Is It Crazy You Think I've Gone?
by DP-shrine-in-closet-girl
Summary: Lucy never expected falling in love with an ex-villain and his family was going to be even remotely normal, but after learning the real circumstance behind the girl's adoption, she starts to see that this family is even stranger than she imagined. She often wonders what's more insane, her new favorite family, or the fact that she loves them anyway?
1. Despicable Man

**Hey guys, I'm back! You might know me as the author of Despicable Days, or maybe not. I don't think I will be continuing that story because my writing has changed a bit, and the new movie has change the canon story a lot. I wanted to write a fic that supported this new canon sequel they have given us, and instead of like in Despicable Days, this will be a continuous story, and not just a collection of one shots. However, I hope this plot with have enough diversity that no one is bored. This story isn't just about Lucy and Gru's relationship (althought that is part of it). This story is also largely about the girls and Gru, and how Lucy comes to know more about them and their life, and eventually, becomes a part of it. I wanted to know what happened directly after the events of El Macho, and so I wrote this. **

**If you haven't read my other story, Despicable Days, don't worry. This story has nothing to do with that one.**

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**Chapter 1: A Despicable Man**

* * *

For Lucy Wilde, being with Gru was like… falling off of a rocket that was heading full speed at a volcano and slamming into in a frigid ocean that knocked all her senses from her.

Truly, it was exactly like that.

It was exciting and terrifying to be dating again, especially a man as brilliant and one-of-a-kind as the ex-villain. However, Gru was more than just some bad boy she was dating for a thrill. The way they spoke to each other so genuinely, the way they shared their love of espionage and adventure but from completely different perspectives… it was all so refreshing. She had found someone so different from herself that still seemed to understand her like no one else could.

It had thrown everything she had thought was possible out the window. And just like she had felt when she hit the water and finally managed resurfaced for air, she was stunned, amazed, and never happier to be alive.

"What are yoo thinkeeng about?" Gru asked her over coffee the morning of their second date. Lucy considered this their second date only because she thought the night where they tried to get the sedated blonde back to her place without garnering too much attention was their first. Maybe it was supposed to be Gru and what's-her-face's date, but she dared to imagine that the fun night that they spent together and the kiss on the cheek she gave Gru at the end of the night meant that she had stolen the date for herself.

Hmm, her first heist. Gru would be proud.

Lucy shook her head. "I was just thinking about what happened two days ago with the rocket… you might be an ex-villian, but you were my hero, Gru."

Lucy smiled over her coffee as she saw Gru's face break out into a rather prominent blush.

Gru straightened in his chair in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. "Yes… well…" He cleared his throat, and a teasing twinkle began to form in his eyes when the embarrassment began to fade. "I would rather yoo not be spreadeeng dat hero business around. I do have a reputation as a veellain… even eef eet is a former one.

"Yes, because being the sweetest father to three adorable daughters doesn't just blow that out of the water."

They grinned at each other. However, as none of them could think of something else to say, their date once again fell into an awkward silence. This is the first time they had been with each other since they realized how mutual the affection between them had been, and honestly, neither of them quite knew what to do.

Lucy turned her mind to Gru's children. A lot of people were put off by the idea of a potential romantic partner already having children, but all Lucy had to do was watch Gru's loving interactions with his children, and to her, it only made him more attractive.

Who knew a super villain could make such a wonderful father?

However, Lucy would have to be completely blind not to notice that the girls looked nothing like their father. They had two different eye colors between them and three different hair colors. Not only did they not resemble Gru at all, but they didn't even look like they were related to each other. Plus, Lucy couldn't help but wonder who their mother was, or what happened to her. Gru never mentioned previously having a wife, but she hadn't directly asked him about it either.

And another thing… she may not have known Gru very long or spent much time around his kids, but not once had she heard his daughters call him Dad. That made her pretty confident that Gru wasn't actually related to them, and her best guess was that Gru had married into the girls mother's family, and that something had happened to his wife leaving him to take care of the girls. However, she wouldn't know until she asked…

"Speaking of the girls…" Lucy began cautiously, "Is it okay if I ask… what happened to their mother?"

Gru blinked in surprise and gave Lucy the strangest of looks. "Dere mothers?" He paused. "I don't know what happened to dere families… dey don't speak of eet much."

Lucy's lips parted in confusion as she struggled to ask just one question at a time when multiple ones suddenly sprung to her head at once. "But how… wait, what?"

Gru took in her confused expression, and slowly his face took on a look of understanding. "Dee girls are adopted," he explained. "None of dem are actually related to each other… or to me."

Lucy's mouth made a small 'o'. That made more sense. She smiled at him. That had to be the sweetest thing she ever heard. A villain who had been lonely and wanted a family.

"When did you adopt the first one?" Lucy asked. She wanted to know as much about this adorably despicable family as she could… especially since she was planning on being around a lot more.

To her surprise, Gru grimaced and his features became stormy. "Dis ees not somet'ing I weesh to be discusseeng right away," he admitted softly, "but seence you asked… I adopted all of dem a little less den a year ago."

Lucy was stunned, but then the ridiculousness image of a bald, long-nosed (exceedingly hansom in her opinion) villain introducing three very different girls to his dark mansion won out, and she laughed. "What, did you wake up one day and suddenly decide you wanted kids?"

Her attempt to make light of the situation didn't work, and Gru's dark expression clung to his face.

There was something wrong here and she knew it.

"Gru?" Lucy asked worriedly.

"Lucy…" he began guiltily, as if he wasn't sure how to explain, or if he even wanted to at all. "You know I love dee gurls, right?"

Lucy's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "Well, yeah, duh, of course you do, anyone could see that. Where is this coming from?"

Gru griped his coffee mug tighter, and the female secret agent worried he might shatter the mug. Gru then let out a long sigh, and then put the coffee down. "Leet's just say I deedn't always," he admitted, and Lucy had never seen him look so ashamed.

"What do you-"

"Lucy, you can't forgeet I was a veellain at that time…" Gru was studying his mug carefully, and then suddenly he looked up at her, pleadingly. "I-I don't weesh to talk about eet anymore." He averted his gaze once again.

There was a moment of silence between them as Lucy considered his words, and then she surprised herself by suddenly asking: "is that because you don't think I will understand, or because you're afraid of what I'll think?"

His eyes snapped up at her with a look of surprise that was quickly overtaken by guilt. "Both," he admitted.

She sat back in her chair, and then smiled what she hoped was an encouraging grin. "Come on Gru, it's me!" she announced as positively as she could. "I like you, and I want to get to know you. I'm sure I can handle anything you have to throw at me, even if don't understand it at first. You don't have to be afraid of scaring me away."

Gru looked at her doubtfully.

"I mean, I was the only one in the whole organization that was willing to work with a villain! Well, ex-villain, but people were still scared of you."

Gru had to smile at this. "…But you weren't."

Lucy laughed. "No way. If anything, I was a huge fan of you! I mean, stealing the moon? That's brilliant! You're brilliant."

Gru blushed deeply. "T-thank you, Lucy. And I know you are right, a-and I weell tell you eventually… but not now, please? I-I joost got you back, I don't need you to hate me."

Lucy placed a hand on his. "Oh, Gru…" she breathed sympathetically. She wanted to push the issue, to make him understand that she liked him too much to ever hate him, but you couldn't force someone to feel comfortable. That had to come with time, and Lucy could wait.

"Alright, I'll drop it for now, but you have to answer me this one question I've been dying to ask you!"

Gru looked at her dubiously. "What's that?"

"Oh, wow, I'm going to finally know the answer! I'm so excited!" Lucy squealed to herself.

Gru rolled his eyes. "Lucy…"

"Oh, right! So my question is: why did you put the moon back? Why didn't you use it as leverage against the rest of the world? With the moon you were the most powerful man on the planet. I read the report and I know how the effects of the shrink ray wear off, but there should have been enough time for you to blackmail the world at the very least, and if you needed to you could have just used the shrink ray on it again. So why?"

To Lucy's utter surprise, Gru's face darkened once again. He was wearing the same expression he had on when she had pushed him about why he had adopted the girls.

"Dat was the plan," Gru informed her softly. "Dat was my dream… to one day steal the moon. But…"

"But?" Lucy prompted.

"Eet wasn't worth the cost."

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**This was a short chapter but it was just setting some things up. The girls will be in the second one, promise. As you can tell, a lot of this story will be about Lucy learning about the events of the first movie, and why Gru initially adopted his kids.**


	2. Mud Pies

**Oh wow you guys! I can't believe how much support this story has gotten, and only on the first chapter which was rather short. Thank you so much for all your reviews! They have really made my day!**

**I now have a beta, ****Mandalicious****, who is wonderful and has been helping me with any spelling and grammar mistakes I make. I read my stories over a lot before I publish them, but no matter how many times I do it, I'm still going to miss something. So a big thank you to her for helping me out, and you should all go read her stories because she is a wonderful author too!**

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**Chapter 2: Mud Pies**

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"Lucy, will you color with me?" Little Agnes asked, while tugging on Lucy's dress.

Lucy's heart melted at the girl's wide-eyed expression. She wondered if there was a person alive that could deny this little girl anything. She was certainly going to be a heartbreaker when she got older… that is, if Gru allowed her within six feet of any boy.

"Oh, of course, sweetie!"

They sat down on the wooden floor in the living room and began coloring with Agnes's crayons. The little girl hummed happily while she colored.

Lucy had been invited over for lunch the day after she had coffee with Gru. She mentioned wanting to get to know his daughters a little better and Gru had invited her to come over the next afternoon. Both of them were waiting for their next assignment from the AVL (that didn't require sending either of them to Australia), but in the mean time they had some time to themselves… and each other. The AVL had requested some simple inventions for Gru and Doctor Nefario to make, but other than that, they were both pretty free.

Halfway through drawing their pictures together, Edith had pulled open the front door from outside and entered the house. Lucy was impressed she managed to open that heavy door on her own, especially since she seemed to have a plate in her other hand.

"Edith, wait!" Margo called, and she followed her sister back into the house. "Don't bring that inside!"

"What'cha got there?" Lucy curiously asked the little blonde.

Edith froze in her tracks, her eyes wide as she held the plate of… _something_ closer to her chest so Lucy couldn't see it.

"Nothin'," Edith muttered, edging towards the stars.

Lucy raised her eyebrows in puzzlement. The girls were usually pretty friendly towards her, and they often seemed to crave her attention. However, Edith suddenly seemed skittish and a bit defensive.

Lucy heard the floorboards creek as Gru started down the stairs. When he saw Lucy he froze with a comical expression on his face. "Lucy!" he shouted almost in terror. "You're here!"

"Yep, the girls were playing in the front yard and let me in." Lucy explained with a huge smile.

"We're coloring!" Agnes announced while holing up her crayon.

"I can see dat," Gru agreed as he entered the room. He seemed to relax now that his initial shock had worn off. He straightened his shoulders and put his hands behind his back- a mannerism Lucy noticed he did when trying to get the situation back under his control. "I'm goeeng to be starting lunch. Why don't you gurls-" He paused when he saw what Edith was carrying. "Edith, what ees dat?"

The young girl froze again as she looked up at her father. After a second, Edith looked down nervously and bit her lip. Lucy thought it was a very uncharacteristic gesture for the girl, even though Lucy hadn't known her long.

"I made you something," Edith admitted, shuffling towards her father. Hesitantly, she held up her creation for his inspection. "It's a mud pie."

Gru looked startled and confused, but Lucy figured Edith's strange behavior tipped him off that this was something very important to her.

"Dat's very nice of yoo, Edith…" Gru said with some hesitation. "Thank yoo."

Edith's eyes lit up like the sun.

"Really?" she asked. "You like it?"

"Umm… yes?" Gru looked astonished by her eager reaction. "I do, but leet us put dee mud pie outside, yes?"

"Why?" Edith questioned.

"So… umm," Gru hesitated a second, before he seemed to come to a reasonable answer without hurting the girl's feelings. "So dee neighborhood can see eet, of course!"

"Okay!" Edith continued to beam as she sprinted for the door and tugged it open, disappearing quickly from their sight.

When all was silent, Lucy could hear Margo's whispered voice. "Thanks, Gru."

Gru looked down at his oldest in confusion. "For what?"

Margo just smiled secretly and shook her head. "So… lunch?" she prompted.

* * *

As Gru made them all sandwiches, Lucy continued to color with Agnes.

"Do you want to see my picture?" Agnes finally asked; even though Lucy could see it perfectly well since she had been coloring next to the girl for the last half hour. Agnes had worked on many pictures, but the last one the little girl finished was the one she worked the hardest on.

The girl was practically bouncing in excitement so Lucy agreed.

Agnes held up a brightly colored picture. No space had been left uncolored. Most of the picture had been colored with a yellow crayon save for five figures who each slightly resembled someone she knew.

"See, this is me and my sisters. And that's you and Gru. There is a heart above your head because you're in love."

Lucy blushed at the deformed little heart Agnes had drew above Gru and her stick figure's head.

"And that's Kevin and Dave and Phil. I couldn't draw all the minions, though."

"What's this yellow part?" Lucy asked, indicating to the background that was melting into the yellow skin of the minions she had drawn. "Is it the sunshine?" she guessed.

"No, that's an explosion," the little girl informed her nonchalantly. "Those happen all the time in the lab."

Lucy was stunned for only a moment before she laughed. Even though Agnes was sweet beyond compare, she was definitely the daughter of a villain, related by blood or no.

"I like it," Lucy managed to say between giggles. "Very good job."

"Thanks! Because I made it for you!" Agnes informed her and she handed Lucy the piece of paper. Lucy smiled and took the drawing. She loved kids, but had never had much experience with them. However, she was starting to find that she wasn't so bad with them.

"Well, this is for you," Lucy informed the girl in turn. "I drew it for you."

Lucy held out her drawing for the young girl.

"Really?" Agnes asked, both mystified and excited at the same time.

Agnes studied the picture carefully. Lucy had drawn a picture of Agnes, or at least, attempted to. Lucy had taken an art class or two in her life but had never been spectacular at it. Her picture was at least more complicated than a stick figure and resembled Agnes to some degree.

However, Lucy didn't expect the little girl's sudden reaction. Not long after inspecting the picture, Agnes had let out a high pitch squeal, which had forced Lucy to cover her ears in pain.

Before Lucy could react, Agnes sprung towards her and latched her little arms around the agent's middle.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Agnes chanted happily.

Not a moment later, Gru came stumbling out of the kitchen frantically. "Agnes?" he called. "Are you alright-"

Gru stopped when he saw the scene before him and smiled.

Lucy looked up at Gru, feeling a little awkward, and then back down at the adorable girl.

"You're welcome, Agnes," Lucy said. Thinking her situation over carefully, Lucy determined for herself that the only appropriate action, and the only one she wanted to take, was to hug the little girl back. So she did.

"Lunch is ready," Gru informed them, and like magic, Edith and Margo peeked their head into the living room at the mention of food.

"Lunch!" Edith cheered.

Suddenly, an idea struck Lucy.

"Hey," she began. "Why don't we make this a picnic? We can take the food to a park not far from here."

"Yay! Picnic!" Agnes cried out happily.

"Cool!" Edith cheered along with her little sister.

"Sounds like fun," Margo agreed. Their father linked eyes with Lucy and nodded with smile.

* * *

They decided to walk to the park since it wasn't too far, and riding in the tank would take the fun out of the trip.

Lucy was looking forward to getting the chance to talk with Gru a bit, but she wasn't hurt when Edith and Agnes charged ahead to the park shouting "Race you, Gru!" and Gru was forced to chase after them out of fear of them getting hurt.

The female agent watched Gru attempt to keep up with his giggling children, and she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

Looking to her right, Lucy noticed that Margo had not gone running off and she was still walking by Lucy's side. Margo was obviously a much calmer child compared to her sisters. However, Lucy didn't think it was just because she was older. Lucy remembered being Margo's age, and at that time she had still been as hyper as Edith and Agnes were. No, the calm demeanor and watchful eyes were something purely Margo.

"I'm glad you came with us," Margo said suddenly. "And thanks for coloring with Agnes; that means a lot to her."

"You don't have to thank me," Lucy assured the girl, slightly stunned. "I enjoy spending time with you girls."

"You do?" Margo seemed surprised by this, and her expression made Lucy's stomach drop. What could have happened in a child's life that would make her think that people didn't want to spend time with her, or her sisters?

"Yes, of course! You're all so fun!" Lucy spread her hands out in a wide arc as it to show the girl just how fun they were.

Margo adjusted her glasses and smiled. "Thanks."

"And for the record, I'm glad I came along too," Lucy added on with a wink, causing Margo's smile to widen.

"But I have to ask," Lucy began after a moment of silence. "What was with that mud pie thing? Edith didn't seem like herself."

Margo sighed and looked at the ground. "It's because of Miss Hattie," Margo explained. "She's the one that ran the orphanage, and she was…" Margo paused, unsure how to describe her, "horrible. She was horrible to us, and she would tell us, especially Edith, that we would never get adopted and that no one would ever love us." Margo's voice wavered, not with tears, but with anger.

"That's terrible!" Lucy shouted, aghast. "How could they let a woman like that run an orphanage? You girls didn't believe her, right?"

Lucy's stomach twisted sharply when Margo didn't answer her question.

Instead, Margo continued her story. "We didn't get attention from many adults back then… actually, none, unless you count Miss Hattie." From Margo's tone of voice it sounded like she didn't include Miss Hattie, and Lucy had to agree with her.

"But my sisters need attention and love," Margo continued, "And even though I took care of them, it wasn't enough. Even though Edith didn't like her, she still made Miss Hattie mud pies. I don't know why she did it, or what Edith thought Miss Hattie's reaction would be, but Miss Hattie would always yell at her for it, and sometime Edith would get put in the box of shame."

_'The box of shame?'_ Lucy wondered to herself. That didn't sound like a place you should put children, or anyone for that matter.

"I know it sounds like Edith did it to annoy Miss Hattie, but she really didn't. Edith annoys people on purpose all the time to get attention, but this… this had been different."

Lucy watched as Margo's expression shifted from frustration with her sister's persistence to confusion about Edith's behavior.

"I think I know, "Lucy began slowly, "why Edith did it."

Margo looked up at her in surprise.

"I used to make mud pies all the time as a kid," Lucy explained. "It's fun to get a little dirty and at the end you have a creation that's all yours, you know? It's not beautiful, but you made it. I think Edith wanted to share a part of herself with someone, and from the sound of it, you guys weren't given much else to create with, so all Edith had was mud. Edith giving a mud pie to Miss Hattie, even though she was a terrible woman, was Edith's way of reaching out to someone beyond just you two. It must have hurt," Lucy said softly, "when Miss Hattie rejected the mud pie, because it must have been like she was rejecting Edith as well."

Margo stared up at her in amazement, but then a thoughtful look crossed her face. "Then why did Edith keep giving her mud pies if it hurt her each time Miss Hattie rejected them?"

Lucy stopped in her tracks and Margo did the same. She smiled wistfully down and the young girl. "Because everyone wants to be loved, and everyone deserves to be loved, Margo, and I think your sister, Edith, hadn't quite give up hope yet."

'_And that's why,'_ Lucy thought to herself, _'Agnes reacted with such excitement when I had given her that picture I drew of her. And that's also why Edith wouldn't let me see that mud pie she made for Gru. She had been afraid I would reject it as soon as I saw it, but she trusted Gru enough to give it to him. Thank God Gru knew just what to say. He really is an amazing father, isn't he?'_

Lucy blinked rapidly to bring herself out of her thoughts and noticed Margo was still staring up at her. In embarrassment, Lucy giggled and rubbed the back of her neck. "But that's just what I think, and it's rather silly, isn't it?"

Margo shook her head. "No, it's not. You're really smart."

Lucy started walking again and Margo continued alongside her. "I'll take that as a compliment," Lucy said with a half-grin, "But I'm not really. I've just had my fair share of rejected mud pies."

Margo nodded and looked up to see that her father had finally been able to catch up with her little sisters. He hoisted both of the giggling girls onto his shoulders with a laugh.

"Yeah," Margo said, and then added with understanding beyond her years: "I think Gru has too."

Lucy continued to walk beside Margo in a stunned silence. This eleven year old girl was probably the most insightful child she had ever met. Unfortunately, Lucy was starting to see that Margo's wise nature came from years of pain that no child should have had to suffer.

"Let me guess," Lucy continued. "You haven't told Gru everything you just told me about the orphanage, have you?"

Margo fiddled with her hands uncomfortably. "Umm, no," she admitted. "We've told him bits and pieces, but… well, I think he would freak out if he knew he whole thing. I hate Miss Hattie, but I don't, umm…"

"You don't want your Dad to…" Lucy made a slicing motion across her throat to indicate death.

Margo nodded hesitantly. "Uh, yeah."

Lucy found herself chuckling a little, since she had a feeling Margo was right, and that is exactly what Gru would do. For a second, Lucy considered if she should feel a little uneasy about that, since dating someone who was most likely capable of murder was not something a sane person did. However, in this case, she couldn't help but find herself on Gru's side.

"It's probably for the best, Margo," Lucy confirmed. "I mean, I'm a good guy and I still want to use all my weapons on that lady for how she treated you girls."

Margo just shrugged. "Don't worry, it's okay. That was almost a year ago. Things are… much better now." Margo smiled slightly, and Lucy felt her heart swell with joy.

"Yeah, Gru's really lucky to have such great kids, and I bet it must have been nice being adopted by such a loving father. Those first days away from that horrible orphanage must have been the best, huh?"

Lucy expected an immediate and joyful confirmation, but what she got was a foreboding silence that followed her question.

"Margo?" she asked tentatively.

After a long few seconds, Margo just shrugged. "Don't worry, it's okay," the young girl repeated, her voice much quieter than before. "Things are better now."

With that the conversation between them ended, and Lucy was left to ponder what Margo had said, or in this case, what she hadn't said. Gru's words from yesterday seemed to fill her mind.

_You know I love dee gurls, right? …Leet's just say I deedn't always._

_Lucy, you can't forgeet I was a veellain at that time…_

Lucy couldn't imagine Gru being anything but the loving father she knew today, but Margo's sad, far-off expression confirmed it for her: Gru hadn't always been so sweet and caring towards his children; in fact, he might have been something else entirely.

* * *

When they arrived at the park they rolled out a large blanket and sat down together. Gru was wearing his casual turtleneck, and as usual, he didn't seem to be overheating even though most people would.

The sandwiches were delicious, and Lucy noticed that the three girls had three different kinds of sandwiches which Gru had made specifically for each girl. It was little things like that which told Lucy that even though Gru hadn't been a parent for very long, he was very very good at it.

After they ate, the girls ran over to the jungle gym with excited grins.

Lucy and Gru followed them at a slower pace. Lucy hadn't played on a jungle gym in ages, and she was tempted to run ahead with the girls and beat them to it, but there was someone else who she wanted to be with more.

She walked alongside Gru and opened her mouth to comment on what a wonderful day she was having so far, when suddenly, she felt a hand slip into hers and fingers intertwining with her own.

She looked down in surprise to see Gru's hand in hers. Her eyes shot up to see him staring at her with his eyes filled with more than just a little bit of fear.

"Ees… Ees dis okay?" he asked self-consciously.

Lucy tightened her grip on his hand and leaned into his arm encouragingly.

"Mmm, it's perfect," she assured him.

When they arrived on the playground, Lucy took the lead and used their entwined hands to pull Gru forward.

"Oh, I know what we should do!" Lucy shouted, accidentally letting go of Gru's hand in her excitement.

"We should play Lava Monster!" Lucy flung herself at Gru's shoulder and then darted away. When she was safely on top of the jungle gym she shouted: "Gru's it!"

Lucy laughed loudly, but no one else joined her. The Gru family stared up at her, all with the same look of confusion.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Lucy asked. "Haven't you guys played Lava Monster on a jungle gym before?"

They continued to stare up at her until, eventually, Margo shook her head.

"We haven't spent much time on jungle gyms before." The oldest girl admitted, shrugging her shoulders.

Lucy gasped. "What? What's wrong with you all? You must all have had really-" but then she cut herself off before she could go any further. She had been planning to jokingly say that they must have all had really impoverished childhoods, until she realized exactly who she was speaking to.

Three of them were children who, up to very recently, had actually had pretty terrible childhoods. Gru had mentioned his mother a few times, and from the sound of it, he had a pretty terrible childhood as well and hadn't had many friends to play with.

Well, it looked like it was up to Lucy Wilde, secret agent, to save the day again!

She explained to them the basic rules while introducing her own flair as well, which included a number of martial arts moves she had learned. The girls took to the game faster than she expected, especially Edith who had found new, more dangerous ways to escape the 'Lava Monster' than any of the adults had expected.

Gru had been the Lava Monster first, and he had been rather nimble at it for his size, but Lucy had already seen his agility first hand on their mission in the mall together, so she wasn't surprised.

They played all day together until the sun began to lower in the sky and the girls started to get hungry for dinner.

Lucy knew they needed family time and didn't want to overstay her welcome so she said goodbye to the girls and their father.

Before the girls left the park, little Agnes came up and tugged on her dress once again. "I'll make you a new picture next time you come over," the little girl promised.

"Yeah, and I'll make you a mud pie!" Edith volunteered, much to Lucy's surprise.

She bent down so she could be on eye level with the girls.

"You know, Agnes, Edith," she began with a wide, grateful smile. "I would really like that."

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**Hope you liked the second chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! I will have the next chapter out very soon!**


	3. Questions and Answers

**These chapters just keep getting longer and longer. I really can't help it. I'm sorry this one took a little longer to come out. I had some problems with it at first, especially since I had to plan out the next chapter more fully before finishing this one. I wanted everything to make sense. **

**Thanks again to my beta,** **Mandalicious, for editing this so quickly so I could get it out!**

**And OMG thank you guys so much for all your reviews! I was so amazed to get them all, thank you!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Questions and Answers**

* * *

"Alryght Margo, your tourn." Gru prompted.

"Okay!" Margo hopped up from a chair, and Gru smiled slightly at her excitement as he handed her the ray gun.

It was nice to see Margo without that blasted phone of hers. Gru regretted the day he ever bought that for her… except that wasn't completely true. Gru was actually ecstatic for Margo to be doing something that didn't involve her sisters for once. When Gru had met them, Margo's whole life revolved around taking care of her sisters because there was no one else around to do it and they needed her. Although it was hard to get Margo to let go at first, Gru slowly started to prove to her that he too could comfort her sisters when they were upset, or make sure they had all they needed for dance class. Gru wanted Margo to know that it was okay to do her own thing, and that she was allowed to be a kid again. He wanted her to know that she didn't have to grow up so fast.

However, a phone also meant the ability to text friends, which also meant the ability to text boys. And that was not okay.

Thankfully, Margo usually wasn't on the phone when they were spending time together as a family, like they were doing now. However, Gru still knew there were long periods of time where she spent texting her friends, and Gru couldn't help but worry. It wasn't that he didn't trust Margo, she was a very smart kid. He just didn't trust boys, any boy, near his little girl.

"Now dis gun ees a leettle beet trickier," Gru explained. "Eet has a really strong recoil, but joost shoot eet like I taught yoo, and yoo weel be fine."

The first time Gru had took the girls to his shooting range and taught them how to use his guns, Margo had been hesitant. He could tell Margo was at least a little interested in learning, but her fear for her sisters' safety overshadowed any interest she had. At the time, Gru was learning he had to be patient with Margo, because her trust didn't come easily and he knew it was something he was going to have to earn. Eventually, she allowed herself to have a little bit of fun, and Gru quickly realized she shot like a left-handed person (her dominate shooting eye being different than her sisters) even though she wrote with her right hand. That was the day Gru learned Margo was really left handed, and that she had been told long ago that she should do everything with her right hand regardless of how uncomfortable it was for her.

Gru had to teach her in a slightly different way than her sisters, but Margo was anything but a slow learner, and she had done extremely well. The first time Margo shot a gun, Gru plainly saw the stunned expression on her face when she had actually hit her intended target, and she had almost seemed more stunned when Gru had complemented her proudly.

Now, Margo enjoyed the shooting range. Of course, not nearly as much as Edith did, but Gru didn't know anyone who loved guns more than Edith, and he had met a lot of villains over the years.

"Nice shot!" Edith exclaimed. She was on the edge of her seat throughout her sister's entire turn. Edith's energy level was always through the roof when they were at the shooting range, and because of this, Gru had to create a lot of rules when guns were involved to keep the girls safe. This way the girls could learn gun safety and become a deadly shot at the same time.

"Alryght, I think dat ees enough for tonight," Gru said after all the girls had gotten multiple turns. It was starting to get late and the girls had to get ready for bed.

"Watch this, Gru!" Edith exclaimed while doing a karate kick in the air. "Lucy taught me that," she explained. "She told me she would teach me a bunch more moves!"

"I hope dis karate doesn't mean yoo weell be stoppeeng dee ballet?" Gru asked in amusement.

"No way! I can do both!" Edith's ambitious expression told Gru that, yeah, she probably could.

"Dat's good." Gru was glad none of his children decided to quit ballet. He would have missed the sight of them in their little pink tutus and going to their dance recitals.

"I bet Lucy would really like it if we taught her some ballet moves," Margo suggested. "We should ask her next time we see her."

"Yeah!" Edith cheered and Agnes hopped up and down excitedly.

Gru chuckled to himself. Knowing Lucy's personality, she would definitely love that.

"When will we see her again?" Margo asked, looking up at Gru.

"Oh, weell," Gru began, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "I'm sure she weell-"

"Have you kissed her yet?" Agnes's high-pitched voice suddenly asked, completely collapsing Gru's train of thought.

"W-what? Weell, I-I-" Gru sputtered frantically. His kids looked up at him with amused, and in Agnes's case, hopeful expressions "W-what ees weeth dis question, huh?"

"So you did or you didn't?" Edith pressed.

Gru glanced around widely and his eyes fell on his oldest. However, Margo was trying to suppress a smirk as she gave him her nope-I'm-not-helping-you-out-of-this-one look.

"Weell I-I-" He could feel the blood running to his face. "Dat eesn't any of your concern." he said at last, rather unconvincingly.

"Does that mean he hasn't?" Agnes whispered to Margo loud enough for everyone to hear.

Gru groaned and ran a hand down his face.

The truth was Gru hadn't kissed her yet. It had only been four days since events with El Macho, and now they were officially dating, but Gru still hadn't mustered up enough courage to do it. He knew they liked each other, and he definitely wanted to, but they had never gone on a real date other than morning coffee and a family outing in the park. Gru was plagued with worries. What if they weren't doing this "couple stuff" right? What if he kissed her too soon? What if he was already too late?

In all honesty, he just didn't want to mess it up.

Gru had ruined a great thing in his life once before and spent the past year making up for it. He didn't want to let another person he cared about down.

"Alryght, alryght," he said at last, trying to make his tone more stern to hide his embarrassment. "Time for us to be goeeng upstairs."

"Wait, Gru!" Edith pleaded. "You get a turn too!"

Gru looked down at the young girl in surprise. "Me?"

"Yeah!" Edith nodded enthusiastically. "You're really good! I want to see you shoot again!"

"Weell…" He pretended to ponder her request hesitantly for a long moment before smirking sharply down at his daughter. "Alryght."

Gru adjusted some of the settings on the automated shooting range to move it up to his level. His girls were now able to shoot moving targets, but he was able to shoot much faster ones.

He shouldered two of the ray guns he brought out for his children to use. Gru had built the shooting range himself, so it might have been cheating when he managed to hit each target perfectly (sometimes without having to look), but he found himself really wanting his children to think he was cool.

When he finished, Gru placed one of the guns on his shoulder, and the other one at his side as he grinned down at his children.

Edith and Agnes were looking at him with huge, amazed expressions, where Margo…

Actually, Gru wasn't sure what Margo's contemplative expression meant. And when Margo's face held an expression he didn't recognize, Gru tended to get worried.

"What?" He asked self-consciously.

Margo shook her head. "Nothing. Just…" she hesitated. "Do you miss it? You know, being a villain?"

Gru's mouth parted slightly, but he found he had no answer for his oldest at first.

Edith and Agnes looked at their sister, and then curiously back up at Gru expectantly.

"Why… why do yoo ask?" Gru managed to reply in confusion. He was trying to test the waters; to figure out what this was really about.

Margo shrugged. "I don't know. You've just been a villain for a long time so you probably liked it a lot. You didn't have to change, you know, just for us."

"Margo…" He was staring to sense where this was going.

She shuffled her feet. "Being a spy is cool and all, but it's not the same, is it?" she asked. "Villains don't have bosses or have to wait for missions."

"No, they don't." Gru agreed cautiously.

"You didn't have to start making jam, or become a spy, or a good guy, or whatever you are now just because of us," Margo repeated.

Margo's voice was off somehow. It sounded small, and maybe a little scared. Of what she had to be scared off, Gru didn't know.

"If you make yourself unhappy because of us, then you'll…" Margo shrugged again, and hugged her arms to herself. "I don't know, maybe you'll regret…"She couldn't finish saying exactly what he would regret, but Gru finally understood.

However, Margo couldn't be more wrong. How could he in a million years ever resent _them_?

"Margo, look at me," Gru said, getting down onto one knee; his guns set carefully on the ground beside him. "Do I look unhappy to you?"

She actually gave him a very careful once-over before slowly shaking her head.

"No." she admitted.

Gru smiled. "Right. That's because I'm not. And how about when I was making jam? Was I unhappy then?"

He knew Margo had no choice but to shake her head in the negative.

"How could I ever be unhappy," he asked her at last, "when I have such wonderful daughtors?"

He expected an answer, but what he got was his oldest daughter running towards him and throwing her arms over his neck in a tight hug. Before he could blink, his other two daughters joined the hug; nearly knocking him over.

After a minute, he pulled back to study three of the most important people in his life.

"Besides," Gru continued, "Where can I really go from stealeeng the moon?" _Besides fatherhood,_ he added to himself. Because even after stealing a celestial body from the sky, he could still vouch that nothing was more difficult or more satisfying than being a father to these three girls. And if he had to reassure Margo of that a thousand times over, than he would without hesitation.

"And you're still kind of a villain," Edith amended. "You still freeze people a lot. Not as much as you used to, but still a lot."

Agnes nodded. "Yeah! And you're still scary! And nice!"

Gru chuckeld. "Force of habeet." He caught Margo's eye and gave her a serious look. She had asked a real question and he intended on giving her a real answer.

"Look, Margo, I do not know eef I like dis spy thing yet. I have only been on dat one mission. Eet ees better den jelly, and Lucy ees my partner so dat ees a plus." He blushed a little. "But no, eet is not dee same. When I became your father I knew my life would nevor be the same, and I made dat choice." He grabbed her hands tightly. "I could nevor regret yoo."

He saw her eyes tear up for a brief second before she hugged him again as tightly as she could.

"I love you." she whispered, just like she had on that first night back from escaping Vector's clutches, and on multiple occasions afterwards.

"I love yoo too."

There was an uncomfortable cough behind him, and he and Margo broke apart to see Dr. Nefario with his hand behind his back.

"If you have time, Gru," Nefario began, "The AVL is requesting your presence."

Gru looked down at his daughters. "Looks like dere's ees finally a new mission, and the answor to our question." Gru stood up and picked up the two guns. "Leet us see if saveeng de world ees really bettor den destroyeeng eet."

* * *

"This is so exciting!" Lucy cheered. "Another mission together, yay!" She did a little dance that made Gru grin.

"Leet us hold off on dee celebrateeng unteel after we learn what eet ees about." Gru suggested. However, he knew containing excitement was something impossible for Lucy to do. Just one of the many things he loved about her.

"'Come on Gru, aren't you at least a little bit excited?" She brought her index finger and thumb close together to indicate a small amount.

He closed his hand over her outstretched one; enjoying the feeling of her hand in his.

"Maybe the tiny amount," he admitted with a smile. Lucy beamed at him, and he tried to ignore the sudden fluttering sensation in his stomach.

Suddenly, a door in the AVL room opened with a 'whoosh' and Mr. Ramsbottom emerged, his nose stuck up and stance as proper as always.

"Mr. Gru, Agent Wilde," he addressed. "I'm glad you could come on such short notice. We have a mission that only you can do."

"Only us? Why?" Gru asked suspiciously.

"Trust me," Mr. Ramsbottom said, giving Gru a dry look. "If any of our other agents could do it we would be sending them instead. Our organization doesn't exactly trust you yet."

Gru kept a straight face, but inside he was grinning maliciously. Even though he was an ex-villain, it was nice to know they still saw him as a threat. In fact, if he were still a villain he would betray them in a heartbeat. That is, if Lucy wasn't in the picture… and if he didn't have to think about his girl's safety.

"Sir," Lucy defended. "If it wasn't for Gru we would still have the wrong man for the PX-41 formula."

"Dat's okay, Lucy," Gru assured her. He looked up at Mr. Ramsbottem. "Dee feeleeng ees mutual. And eet ees soundeeng to me dat dis organization needs me more den I need it." Gru smirked when Ramsbottom frowned uncomfortably.

Ramsbottem cleared his throat. "Well, anyway, let's get on with it, shall we?"

"Leet's." Gru agreed.

"I am confident you know of the villain called Nemesis?"

Gru's eyes widened. "Nemesis? Yes, of course."

"Nemesis?" Lucy snorted. "What a lame name."

Gru nodded. "Weell, despite dee lame name, he ees actually a good veellain. He made dee world think he had kidnap some important world leaders by trickeeng dem into attending a secret conference that no one knew about. He announced to dee world he had kidnapped dem, and was able to extort billions of dollars for dere release, which dee countries paid because dey believed him. But een dee end eet torned out he deedn't kidnap anyone at all, and dee world leaders finished dere conference weeth out thinkeeng anything was wrong unteel dey got back. He ees a very smart veellain… although a beet theatrical."

"Whoa, that is smart," Lucy agreed. "Do you know him?"

Gru shook his head. "Not personally." He addressed Ramsbottom, "What ees dis about Nemesis?"

"Well, there seems to be a collaboration going on between villains and we need a villain on the inside to tell us what's going on."

Gru frowned. "No," he said sternly. "No way."

Lucy looked at him in surprise. "What? Why not?"

"I am not a veellain anymore," Gru explained. "And yoo work for the AVL, Lucy. Nemesis ees not goeeng to believe anything we say."

Ramsbottem folded his hands together. "That is why we need you, Gru. Any agents we send undercover as villains will no doubt be discovered. We need a villain, or an ex-villain. You're the only one who might know what to say to get Nemesis to trust you."

"Eet ees weell known I have spent time workeeng for the AVL," Gru corrected. "Eet would be near impossible to geet Nemesis to tell me any information."

Ramsbottem sighed. "We believe he is working with Mr. Perkins." he admitted suddenly.

Gru's head snapped up.

"I believe you know each other."

Gru's hands tightened into fists. "You could say dat." he said through clenched teeth.

"We believe Mr. Perkins had been gathering the support of villains ever since he got his son Victor… or was it Vector?" He pondered to himself. "Whatever his name is, he got him off the moon and Mr. Perkins has been contacting multiple villains ever since. We need to know what he is planning, but Mr. Perkins is very careful and we-"

"I'm een." Gru announced suddenly.

Mr. Ramsbottom paused and appraised Gru carefully. "…I'm glad to hear that," he said eventually.

"Dere ees one condition." Gru amended, and Mr. Ramsbottom lifted an eyebrow curiously.

"Which is?"

"I work alone for dees one."

"What?" Lucy cried in an outrage. "Gru, we're partners." She grabbed his scarf. "We _are_ partners, right?"

Gru looked at her desperate and confused face and tried to keep his own face as expressionless as possible. He grabbed her hands and gently and pulled them off his scarf; letting them go as soon as he could so he didn't have to think about how soft her skin was. "Not dis time, Lucy."

Her desperate expression shattered into a look of hurt and betrayal. Gru had to turn away from her, or the guilty lump that was growing in his throat would rise up and start spewing apologies everywhere.

"I'm sorry, Gru," Ramsbottom said, "That is not a request we can comply with. As I said, we still don't trust you yet, and we cannot allow you to gather information on a villain that is actively collecting other villains for some nefarious purpose on your own."

""Hold on a second!" Gru protested angrily. "Yoo are askeeng for an impossible thing! Yoo want me to gain his trust, but sending any AVL agent with me weell tip him off!"

"You were a villain not too long ago," Ramsbottem reminded him. "Agent Wilde is an agent we can trust, and the only one willing to work with you. She doesn't have to walk in the front door with you, but she must be there somehow to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"But-"

"You take her or we will order her to follow you on her own. Those are your choices," Ramsbottem decreed. "There will be no negotiations on that."

Gru hesitated for a second and then glanced at Lucy. Gru gulped.

She looked furious.

* * *

"What exactly happened back there?" Lucy asked him loudly once Mr. Ramsbottom had left. "Not partners? What was that?"

"Lucy, listen," Gru pleaded. He was trying not to sound frantic as he tried to explain, but Lucy's anger scared him more than he thought it should. He just really didn't want Lucy to hate him, and right now, she was starting to sound like she did. "I have to convince Nemesis that I am double-crossing the AVL or he won't trust me. I can't do that while you are with me."

A flash of realization crossed her eyes, and for a moment Gru thought she understood, but then she shook her head and growled in frustration. "No! No way! I'm not buying that!" She stomped her foot stubbornly. "You're the man that stole the moon!" she insisted, and Gru didn't miss the brief look of admiration in her eyes that make his stomach ball up in knots. "You can figure out how to convince him even if I came along, I know you could! I don't have to be right next to you the entire time, but I can still help!"

There was a brief moment of silence between them where Gru had a feeling it was his turn to speak, to explain, but he found he couldn't even open his mouth.

"So why…" Lucy said, her voice suddenly going from shouting to just above a whisper. "What's the real reason you don't want to be partners anymore?" The room rung with silence, and then out of nowhere, Lucy smirked humorlessly to herself. The heartbroken look on her face was so familiar it could have been his own face he was staring at… that is, if it hadn't been so damn gorgeous. "It's okay to tell me, Gru. I can handle it. It's not like I haven't heard all the excuses before." She shrugged.

Gru took a deep breath and steadied himself. Lucy was right. She deserved to know the real reason, especially because the conclusion she was currently drawing couldn't be farther from the truth. He needed to dispel her fears, but he didn't know what he could say to convince her.

He took a few steps closer to her and lifted her chin up with her fingers. Lucy looked startled, and almost took a step backwards. If she had, Gru probably would have lost his nerve.

"What are-" but she didn't get to finish her question as Gru leaned in and kissed her for the first time.

Gru could feel her surprise, but that's all it had been, initial surprise… There had been no hesitation when she had kissed him back.

When they broke away, faces flushed, and Lucy looked absolutely giddy and confused at the same time. "Well, that was a great answer…" she giggled. "But not to the question I asked."

"Dat ees because dat was not an answer." Gru mumbled. He was still so close to her it was hard to think. "Dat was me correcting your meestaken thinkeeng dat I do not want you as a partner anymore. Lucy, dere is no one I want more…" Gru could feel his face heat up suddenly. "As a partner, I mean."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "But apparently I can't be your partner for this mission specifically?"

Gru sighed. "Lucy, I deedn't even want to accept dis mission. Eet's way too risky. We would be two known spies walkeeng straight eento a veellain's lair and askeeng for information on a plot we should know nothing about!" Gru explained. He found himself widely talking with his hands in order to illustrate the insanity of this mission. "And your organization's only plan ees to rely on my expertise and years of thinkeeng like a veellain to basically talk my way both een and out. Aren't yoo even a leettle worried about what weell happen? Eef I was Nemesis I wouldn't even geeve us a chance to explain! I'd probably joost shoot us on the spot!"

Gru winced. That had been a little harsh and not something he wanted to admit, but it had been the truth.

"Then why did you agree to do it?" Lucy challenge. "You were against it at first, but then you seemed to change your mind when you heard this Perkins guy was behind it."

Gru sighed. "Dat ees exactly what I am saying! Dee issues I have with Perkins ees between me, him and his son. Yoo don't need to geet involved."

"No." Lucy shook her head. "That's not how this works! I'm either your partner or I'm not. I need to know important things like this, Gru, if we are going to work together. You're going to have to trust me and open up, or else… or else I'm not sure if this is going to work!"

Gru froze. He suspected she was talking about more than just their partnership.

"We need to trust each other," she continued. "You don't have to tell me everything, and I don't expect everything. I just need a little bit so I can understand you better, even if it's bad…"

Gru watched her feisty and determined expression carefully, knowing deep down that she was right.

"Vector, Perkins' son, keednapped my gurls." he explained suddenly.

Lucy's eyes widened.

"I had the moon, and he was desperate to geet eet from me. I told yoo I deedn't keep eet because eet wasn't worth the cost… and now yoo know why. But, Vector deedn't hold up his end of the bargain and refused to release the gurls. When I caught up to him, the moon was already groweeng back to eet's regular size." Gru's features darkened. "My gurls were almost hurt because of him!" Gru snarled. "He was lucky he ended up on the moon! Had he been on earth I would have tracked him down."

"So… you want revenge?" Lucy guessed, still stunned by the story.

"No, if I went aftor him dat might endanger my gurls. However, Perkins despises me for what happened. Eef he ees workeeng on some plan then I need to find out what eet ees in case eet includes revenge against my family."

Gru watched Lucy's concerned expression turn thoughtful as she considered his story carefully.

"Thank you," Lucy said at last. "For telling me, that is."

"Now yoo understand why I have to do dis?"

Lucy nodded.

Gru sighed in relief. "Good."

"And now that I know why this is so important, there is no way I'm letting you do it alone!" Lucy announced with a determined grin.

"_What?"_ Gru yelled.

Lucy put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I mean, what else am I going to do? Let you risk your life without back up?" She scoffed. "No way, partner. Not as long as I'm here."

"But I thought I explained! Dis ees my responsibility!"

"And I thought I explained that we're partners!"

"Dis ees deefferent. Dis has notheeng to do weeth yoo! I can't let yoo risk your life because of sometheeng I have to do."

"And I can't let you risk your life alone!" She countered again.

"Gah! Don't yoo understand?" he shouted through frustration "I don't want yoo to geet hort!"

Gru watched as Lucy's next retort die in her throat as a look of shock crossed her face. Gru thought he had finally, finally got through to her, but then her face slowly grew red with anger.

"Oh, that's nice, so now I guess I can't take care of myself?"

"Uhh… no! Dat's not what I… uhhh…" Gru stuttered.

"Well, what if I don't want you to get hurt, huh? What if I care about you too? Ever think of that? No, probably not!" Lucy's hands gestured wildly in her frustration. "So stop trying to be such a hero and trying to protect me. You're a better villain anyway, so act like one!"

Gru's expression went blank. Act like one, huh? That wasn't such a bad idea actually…

He started to make connection; plans started to form in his mind. Plans that he couldn't accomplish without Lucy... _Light bulb! _

"Gru?" Lucy asked uncertainly. "Why are you smiling like that; I'm trying to yell at you!"

"You're a genius, Lucy." Gru said suddenly.

"Uhh, okay?" Lucy hands fell limply by her side in confusion. "You going to let me in with what you're thinking here, or…?"

Gru shook his head. "Eef yoo come with me…" he began slowly, "eet weell be very dangerous."

"Gru, I know that!" Lucy insisted, but she fell silent when he held up his hand.

"I don't want yoo to be een danger but eet ees seeming that I have no choice. Eet…" he hesitated. "Eet might not be what yoo are expecteeng. Yoo said I need to trust yoo, but dis time I have to ask: Are yoo willing to trust me?"

In one fluid motion, Lucy took one, and then two steps towards him, slid her arms around his neck until they were tangled in his scarf, leaned in, and kissed him deeply. All Gru's previous thought and worries were pushed out of his mind as he slid his hands around her waist to pull her closer.

"That," she said breathlessly when they broke apart reluctantly, "Is the answer to your question."

* * *

**When Gru changes his mind like that it definitely means he has an idea. And what's this? Actually plot besides just cute fluff? Mostly because I think they would be adorable together on a mission, but also because, yeah… this needs some plot to move it along. **

**Please leave a review, and if you guys have an idea for anything you would like to see later in the story let me know! I have the outline somewhat planned out, but a lot of it is still fuzzy right now, and I would love to get some more ideas. I'll credit you of course if I use it. **


	4. Nemesis

**Okay, so chapter 4 was originally supposed to be the entire mission discussed in the last chapter. However, while writing it I discovered that the mission was going to take a little more writing than I thought. Next chapter it will be completely done, though, and we will get back to the girls after that. I just really wanted to get something out to you guys so you didn't have to wait too long, and I really didn't want to have a huge chapter either. **

**Thanks a lot to by beta,** **Mandalicious, who edited this very quickly so I could get it out to you guys tonight.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Nemesis**

* * *

"Shouldn't I… you know, be sneaking in the back or something?" Lucy asked after Dr. Nefario dropped them off with Gru's ship a block away from Nemesis's lair. "You can try to get him to trust you and tell you what Perkins wanted, and I can see if I can break into his computer or something?"

"I thought about dat," Gru admitted, "But we have very leettle information on his lair, and I'm not sure how to geet yoo een undetected. The AVL hasn't given us much time to prepare, so we have to work weeth what we have."

"But just walking in the front?" Lucy asked skeptically. "Isn't that exactly what you didn't want me to do? Especially if we want him to believe your story about not working with the AVL anymore?"

Gru shook his head. "Dee plan has changed. I doubt eet ees possible for me to conveence him I am not a spy. Your job ees to ask him for the information, and I weell convince him to geeve eet. We weell play good-cop-bad-cop. Yoo weell find dat I can be very convinceeng."

Lucy frowned. This still didn't sound like a very good plan. So much could go wrong.

"But what if-" Lucy started to ask, but then Gru grabbed her hand gently.

"Lucy, remembor dat I asked yoo to trust me?"

She nodded slowly. She couldn't keep herself from staring into his eyes and how intently they pleaded with her. For a moment, she thought he looked regretful for some reason, although she couldn't understand why.

"I do." She insisted, and although he smiled, Lucy caught a glimpse of doubt in his eye. Did he really not think she trusted him? Lucy suddenly felt incredibly sad. It was one thing to not trust someone or not be trusted, it was another thing to trust someone so completely and have them not believe you.

* * *

Lucy couldn't believe how easy it had been to walk straight into Nemesis's lair. All Gru had to do was crack the code into Nemesis's building, which was basically an abandoned factory, and they were in. Gru found the lift into the real underground part of the lair, and in no time they were zooming down to meet the villain himself.

"Maybe I just haven't broken into enough villain lairs, but aren't there supposed to be like traps, or henchmen trying to stop us or something?" Lucy asked.

"Not all veellains do dat." Gru explained. "Some veellains like guests, especially spies. Eef I were to make a guess, I would say dat dis ees the only elevator een and out of the lair, and Nemesis ees probably the only one een control of eet."

"Oh, so he would rather have intruders come to him where they will be trapped instead of meeting them outside where they can still escape."

"Precisely," Gru agreed. "Eet would have also made eet impossible for us to split up and corner him eef there ees only one way down. Dere ees no doubt cameras everywhere watcheeng us."

Lucy couldn't help but glace at the walls and ceilings to look for hidden cameras, but she found none.

"Here we are." Gru said when the lift stopped. "Leet us go meet Mr. Nemesis, shall we?"

Lucy adjusted her white shoulder bag with a smile.

"Let's."

Together they walked through the deserted hallways of Nemesis's lair. The artificial lighting made their skin look sickly pale, and the only thing they could hear was sharp clicks of Lucy's high heels and Gru's dress shoes hitting the tile. This place was completely different from Gru's lab, despite both being the lair of a villain. Where Gru's lab was always buzzing with excitement from his minions, this place felt soulless, like no one had walked down these halls in ages. Gru's place had test tubes, half-finished rockets and bombs, but this place had almost nothing except a ton of filing cabinets, and some ugly decorative pieces of art in some of the rooms they had passed by. The only impressive thing they found was in a room full of desks covered in papers, because in this room there was a very large screen hooked up to what looked like a supercomputer.

"Well, this place is kinda… lame." Lucy commented.

Gru rubbed his chin. "Nemesis ees not known for making weapons or bioweapons, or anytheeng like dat. From what I heard about him, he has a very logical mind and he ees very good weeth computors. He ees beetter known for comeeng up with nefarious schemes dat nevor fail. He eithor enlists the help of other veellains or miraculously pulls off the crime on his own."

"By himself?" Lucy asked skeptically. "How? He doesn't seem to have any henchmen."

Gru shrugged. "No one knows. But out of nowhere he weell suddenly have a famous painting, or secret government files, and no one would know how he got eet. Dere would be no tapes catcheeng him een the act, and no alarm evor sounds in the places he targets. The man ees a genius, and dat's why he is called Nemesis. The Nemesis."

"Wow, he is good. No wonder Perkins recruited him."

They stepped into a large open room. There was only one way forward through a large door that seemed to lead to more and more hallways.

Suddenly, the two spies could hear the gentle clicking of shoes against the tile floor, and the sound was coming directly towards them in a slow, steady pace. Lucy couldn't help but move closer to Gru as the sound approached. She was sure she could handle an old man in a fight, but being closer to Gru helped steady her nerves a bit, especially since they didn't have much of a plan.

"Well, hello," a gentlemanly voice greeted. The person attached to the voice was a rather short man in his sixties. He had long grey hair which he tied back in a ponytail, a dark suit, and a very straight, powerful stance that made him seem taller than he really was. If Lucy saw him on the street she would think he was just a rich, old man going to a party. And yet, his entitled and rather condescending grin would make her either want to slap him, or stay as far away from the man as possible. He had an aura that something was _'just not right'_ about him like most infamous villains did, even Gru. Although Lucy found Gru's to be rather enduring, and while other people moved out of the way to let Gru pass in a crowd, Lucy just wanted to hug the big guy.

"What brings you to my home?" Nemesis asked with a small smile.

"My name ees Gru, and dis ees Agent Wilde. We are here-"

"Oh yes, I know exactly who you are, Mr. Gru," Nemesis interrupted with a wave of his hand. "I'm a big fan. It's not every day one meets the man who stole the moon, is it?"

Nemesis walked up and held out his hand for Gru to shake. "Eet's a pleasure." The older villain was nothing less than polite as Gru uncomfortably shook the man's hand.

"And Agent Wilde, was it?" Nemesis asked. "A pleasure to meet you as well, my dear."

Lucy spared a brief glance at Gru before shaking the man's hand, slightly baffled.

"Now, I know you came all the way down here to ask me something, but before any of that, can I offer either of you anything? Coffee? Tea?"

"No," Gru spoke up gruffly. "Thank you, but leet us be getteeng down to business first."

"Ah, business before pleasure, I can respect that!" Nemesis commented cheerfully, winking at the two of them. "Proceed then. What is this business you wish to speak about that must be so important that you couldn't just call me about?"

Gru looked at Lucy and at first she didn't move. Once she noticed his look, however, she jumped into action. "Oh, my turn, that's right!" She cleared her throat and began to speak in what she called her 'professional voice'. "Mr. Nemesis, my organization, the Anti-Villain League, has received information that you have been recently contacted by a Mr. Perkins, is that correct?"

Nemesis smiled in amusement. "That is correct, my dear."

"The AVL has been quite interested in Mr. Perkin's movements as of late. Mr. Gru and I are here to request your corporation with the AVL and we ask that you tell us what Mr. Perkins contacted you about. If he is paying you, rest assured that we can double that amount." That part had been a complete lie, but Lucy had to come up with some incentive to get Nemesis to agree to do this. "You will be highly compensated if you work with us, but if you withhold information, the AVL will consider you to be Mr. Perkin's partner and react accordingly."

After a long few second of silence, Nemesis asked: "Are you quite serious?" Nemesis's voice took on more of a dangerous tone, but he still sounded more amused than angry. "The AVL sent an ex villain and a ditzy little number to threaten me?"

Lucy was about to retort, when suddenly Nemesis took a few steps closer to her, and it was a few steps too close. She wanted to back away, but she also didn't want to give him any more ground. She also didn't want to move any farther away from Gru.

"I'm sorry to say, my dear, that there is nothing your little organization can offer me or threaten me with that would cause me to work with them. Some villains like the leashed look, I supposed, but I certainly do not."

Lucy could feel Gru twitch beside her, but he remained silent. Lucy didn't understand. Why wasn't Gru doing anything? Wasn't he supposed to be the bad cop or something?

"It was a valiant effort though, my dear. I'll give you that." The _look_ the man was giving her was freaking her out, and she couldn't help but flinch when Nemesis reached out towards her to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears.

Before he could reach her, however, Gru grabbed the man's arm in a powerful grip, stopping him from touching her.

Lucy let out a mental sigh of relief. Kicking the disgusting man in the face like she wanted to do would probably ruin any chance this mission still had at success.

Nemesis frowned at the larger villain, and roughly pulled his arm away. He opened his mouth to speak, but Gru beat him to it.

"Dose are dee reasons Agent Wilde ees here. Dey are not, however, my reasons."

Nemesis's eyes lit up in interest. Lucy looked at Gru in confusion. What the heck did that mean?

"Oh, and why are you here, Mr. Gru?" Nemesis asked.

Gru folded his hands behind his back and walked forward until he stood in-between Lucy and Nemesis.

"Eet ees true I worked for the AVL to help dem capture El Macho, but eet was done for my own eenterests."

"Let me guess, you also wanted the PX-41 serum?"

"Exactly." Gru nodded. "But aftor seeing the effects for myself, I have to say I have no eenterest een the formula anymore."

"It was a bit unpredictable," Nemesis agreed. "If you can't control your weapon it could easily turn on you. El Macho's plan was weak at best."

"Some good deed come from dese events, however, seence I now have access to classified intel from the AVL." As Gru said this piece of information, Lucy's mouth when dry.

Nemesis smirked. "You're not quite the dog on the leash I presumed, Mr. Gru."

Gru suddenly turned on his heels to face Lucy. She was taken aback by his sudden cold expression. He reached out and snatched her white purse from her shoulder before she even realized what was going on.

"Hey!" she shouted. "What are you doing?"

Gru didn't even glance at her as he turned back to face Nemesis.

"The AVL sent me here because yoo were contacted by Mr. Perkins. Dey want to know what he ees planneeng. I, however, want eento dis plan. He contacted yoo and many other great veellains, so I am weell aware he ees planneeng sometheeng big."

Nemesis chuckled. "I don't think Mr. Perkins is going to trust a villain who worked with the AVL, sorry Mr. Gru."

Gru grinned deviously. "Dat ees not a problem, seence Mr. Perkins won't have a choice. I have an offer he can't refuse." Gru handed Lucy's purse to Nemesis.

"Gru, what are you doing?" Lucy protested, slightly panicked.

Gru continued to ignore her. "Dis badge weell geeve yoo access to some AVL classified information. The badge alone may not be enough to do much damage, but Agent Wilde often forgets dee top secret pass codes and so she writes dem down and puts dem in a secret compartment in her purse. Eet may take a while, but I'm sure yoo and Mr. Perkins can find some use for dis?"

Lucy was shocked into silence, something that rarely happened to her.

'_Gru, this isn't part of the plan!'_ her mind shouted at him.

Nemesis chuckled again. "You don't happen to know what Mr. Perkin's plan is, do you?"

When Gru gave him a confused look, Nemesis shook his head. "Never mind. Mr. Gru, I think this might just show to Mr. Perkins how… useful you can be." He stepped around Gru to address Lucy. "What's the matter, Agent Wilde? Was this not part of your plan?"

Lucy glared hatefully at the man that had her purse and everything she needed to get into the AVL headquarters.

"Now don't look at me like that, my dear. You should have known better than to trust a villain, especially to have one as your partner." Nemesis pulled something out of his pocket, and Lucy's muscles tensed, expecting to have to dodge a blast from a weapon. Instead, Nemesis pulled out what looked to be a small remote. He pushed a button on the remote and all at once a post came up from the floor and ropes flung out of the post, binding Lucy tightly against it.

"Hey!" She protested. "Let me go!" She squirmed against her bonds, but they only seemed to tighten against her.

"Say goodbye Gru, this is the last you will be seeing of this pest," Nemesis said cheerfully as he began to walk towards the doorway.

Gru turned to face her and actually had the audacity to smirk.

"Weell, Agent Wilde, dis has been fun." Gru offered cruelly.

"Yeah, so much fun," Lucy spat back. "You know, most dates just take me out for a dinner and a movie!"

"Yoo joke, Agent Wilde, like yoo think yoo weell be makeeng eet out of dis?" Gru approached her with his hand behind his back. He seemed to tower over her, even though she was at least as tall as him, taller in heels.

Lucy couldn't help but glare at him. She may have only been capture by a villain once before, but Lucy had watched enough spy movies to know what to say next. "You're not going to get away with this, Gru! The AVL will know I'm missing and they will lock out my access codes!"

"Den we better work fast… are dose bonds tight enough, Agent?" He asked when he saw her struggling with them again.

"Very tight," Lucy assured him, and then grinned. "I just didn't know you were into this kind of stuff, Gru."

Gru went so red in the face that Lucy almost lost her cool and burst out laughing. Any chance to embarrass Gru after what he did to her was a win in Lucy's book.

"But then I guess I haven't known you for very long." Lucy continued. "I misjudged you."

"No," Gru corrected, almost angrily. "Yoo underestimated me."

"Maybe I did, but the AVL wont, Gru!" Lucy countered. "They are going to stop you!"

Suddenly, Gru was very close to her face, glaring menacingly at her.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I'd like to see dem try." Gru was only a few centimeters from her, and she could feel the heat from his body against her, his breath tickling at her ear.

"Would you too stop flirting already?" Nemesis interrupted rudely, suddenly intruding on whatever weird moment they were having.

Gru lurched back in embarrassment. "Weell, umm, I—" he stuttered, and then seemed to regain himself. "Dat is… Goodbye, Agent Wilde," he said at last.

Nemesis held up his remote and pushed one last button.

The post Lucy was tied to and the circular tile she was standing on started sinking into the floor. The ground beneath her opened up into what looked like a large body of water that she was slowly descending into.

"I'm sorry to have to do this to such a pretty face," Nemesis added, "But we can't have you squealing to your little organization. You understand."

Lucy struggled frantically against her bonds.

"And don't worry; the sharks haven't been fed in a while so you won't have to worry about the painful experience of drowning."

Lucy gasped and looked over the edge of the platform. Sure enough, she could see grey masses moving in the water.

"Well, Gru?" Nemesis asked, placing his remote on a small table by the door frame. "Should we go and discuss plans? I'm a gentleman and would prefer not to hear a lady cry."

Nemesis began walking out of the room, when Gru suddenly said, "Wait!"

Lucy looked up in confusion.

"We shouldn't leave dis here," Gru said, picking up the remote Nemesis had left on the table and putting it in his own pocket. "Yoo know how good guys are," he explained. "Yoo leave dem to their deaths for five seconds, and suddenly dey find a way to escape. We don't want to geeve her any chances."

Nemesis nodded approvingly. "You're a very logical thinker, Mr. Gru. I think we are going to work wonderfully together."

Gru and Nemesis left the room without a backwards glance.

Lucy looked at the predator filled water and stared to feel a lump of fear spreading in her chest.

Despite everything that happened with Gru and the implications of what this could mean for the rest of the mission, Lucy couldn't help but think, '_What is with villains and their obsession with sharks?'_

* * *

**I don't have much to say here besides that the next chapter will be out very soon! Please don't forget to review! They are the best gift you can give an author!**


	5. Trust

**Sorry this chapter ended up taking longer than I thought. I was supposed to get it up yesterday night, but my hands weren't writing as fast as the ideas were coming.**

**I love how a lot of you had very… passionate reactions to the last chapter. They were so fun to read! And the chapter before that a lot of you were able to figure out what Gru's plan was. I was very impressed. **

**Thanks again to my Beta** **Mandalicious for looking this over.**

**And also, I was informed that my ex roommate (ex because we no longer go to school together so we don't live in the same apartment anymore) is reading my fic, and yet, she has failed to review. What I great friend I have, huh? She knows I'm joking but just watch, now she's actually going to review to this chapter. (or she won't just to spite me)**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Trust**

* * *

"You had me worried there for a moment, Mr. Gru." Nemesis commented as they walked deeper and deeper into his lair.

"Why ees dat?" Gru asked slightly distracted as he tried to keep himself from looking back to the room where he had left Lucy. He fiddled with the remote in his pocket.

"Well, I know the AVL can be very persuasive, and I would have hated to see one of the greatest villains of our era selling out to an organization like them. Usually I would have just assumed you were manipulating them, but then you have been inactive for almost a year…"

"No, no, I have joost been… planneeng. I have to outdo stealeeng the moon, aftor all."

"Oh, that's a relief. I thought it might have something to do with those kids you have now."

Gru froze, his villainous mask slipping as he turned to face Nemesis. "People know about dat?"

Nemesis raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Was it supposed to be a secret?"

Gru clenched his fist in his pocket so Nemesis wouldn't see. He didn't like the idea that his girls were common knowledge in the villain world. All villains held grudges, and all villains had enemies, especially well-known villains like him. He thought back to the defenses and alarms around his house and how he should add a few more. If he wasn't careful, his girls could be kidnapped by someone much worse than Vector.

Nemesis was still staring at him, and Gru tried to recover.

"No, dat's nawt eet! I joost deedn't know other veellain would care about sometheeng like dat."

"Oh, yes, you were quite the topic of conversation for a while there. It was… unusual behavior for a villain." Nemesis began walking again and Gru followed him. "But I guess that doesn't matter as long as you haven't lost your edge."

Gru raised his eyebrow. "Does eet look like I have lost my edge?"

Nemesis chuckled. "No it does not, my friend. You really fooled that spy back there. The look on her face was… it was strange…" He pursed his lips in thought. "It was like she never even considered the idea that you would betray her. You would think she would have at least suspected it, given your past. I guess you must have done a wonderful job convincing her to trust you."

Gru shifted uncomfortably. "Eet was nawt a beeg deal."

"Don't be so modest," Nemesis scolded. "Good guys are hard to predict. That's why I stick with technology. Technology is easy, it does exactly what I tell it when I tell it. It doesn't talk back and it doesn't misbehave without reason. If there is damage I can fix it. If there is a mistake I can correct it. Easy!"

Nemesis led him into a huge open chamber. This seemed to be the middle of his lair. There were cat-walks above and below them. Above seemed to head back to where they had come from with the elevator, where the floors below them seemed to go on forever. Gru looked down over the railing, but it was too dark to see much anything. For a guy who didn't actually build anything, Nemesis sure had a lot of room.

"But people…" Nemesis continued. "People are hard. They're unpredictable. That's why I don't deal with them."

Gru turned to him in confusion. "But yoo have team up weeth other veellains all the time, even before accepteeng Mr. Perkin's offer."

"Ah!" Nemesis exclaimed. "Villains are different. Villains make sense! A villain will always do what is in their best interest. Always. Even if a villain works with someone else, or acts like they are doing a favor, they always have some ulterior motive. In the end, a villain always wants something in return. Villains aren't like regular people, Mr. Gru. I can understand the mind of a villain just as I can a line of computer code. I can understand your mind, and what you were thinking when you decided to 'help' the AVL. We are very much alike, you and I."

"Are we?" Gru asked, trying to feign interest in the villain's rant. Gru was starting to think Nemesis had been without other people to interact with for far too long.

"Yes, which is why I should have known you were just using the AVL to your advantage. I bet those kids of yours are part of some master plan too," Nemesis added. Gru clenched his teeth together. He hated every time Nemesis mentioned his girls. It reminded him how exposed they were.

"Well… am I wrong?" Nemesis asked with a condescending smirk that said he knew he wasn't wrong.

"Leesten, can we joost get to the part where you tell me what Perkin's plan ees? I don't want to waste my time eef eet eesn't worth eet," Gru asked impatiently

Nemesis looked surprised. "Why, Mr. Gru, I can't tell you! I know how useful you will be, but Mr. Perkins must be informed of your interest first. I've already sent him a message asking to speak with him, and I'm sure he will get back to us as soon as he is able. I cannot give you any information until he approves."

Gru frowned to himself. Nemesis was much more careful than Gru thought he would be. There was no way Perkins was going to vouch for him.

If Gru couldn't get Nemesis to offer up any details of the plan, then this entire mission was a complete failure.

Not only would they not have the information, but Lucy probably hated him by now.

* * *

When Gru and Nemesis left, Lucy stopped struggling against her bonds. She was a secret agent, and she only had to be tied up one time in a near death experience involving a shark to learn from her ill-preparedness. The bonds Nemesis put her in might have been tight, but he hadn't bothered to tie her hands behind her back. He hadn't even bothered to tie her hands together at all. They were tightly pressed against her side by the same rope that held the rest of her body in captivity. He was either very inexperienced at capturing spies, or he had underestimated her greatly; Lucy figured it was the latter.

Almost all the weapons she had on her had been in her purse, which Gru had taken for her. However, she did have one crude weapon left. Between her legs and under her dress, was a small sheath with a knife inside, just the perfect tool to not only conceal without anyone noticing, but also perfect for cutting ropes with. After her experience with being tied to the rocket by El Macho, Lucy had been determined to have a way out if anything similar to that situation happened again. She just didn't think that it would happen again so soon.

The ropes were tight, but she was also skinny. She managed to wiggle her arms until she could reach the knife. Once in her hand, she flipped her wrist upwards and began cutting the rope closest to her right hand. The lift she was on was still lowering her into the shark-filled water, but it was moving at an incredibly slow speed.

Lucy rolled her eyes. _Villains and their slow, dramatic death scenes. _

After she freed her right hand from the rope, the rest of the cords were easy to cut. Soon she was free, but the lift had already descended far enough into the ground that she couldn't reach the outside edge anymore. She was tall, but not quite that tall.

Lucy looked around and the only thing she saw down on the lift with her were the disregarded pieces of rope, and the pole that had come up from the ground and had trapped her in the first place.

'_I'm an agile cat, I'm an agile cat,'_ Lucy repeated to herself again and again like a mantra as she climbed the pole. She sat on top of it with her legs bent. Stretching her neck from her crouched position, Lucy could see the outside. Taking a deep breath, Lucy pounced.

Lucy let out a muffled gasp as her torso managed to make it onto the ledge but the rest of her body dangled off the edge above the dangerous water. Trying not to panic, Lucy clawed at the floor and managed to use her long arms to lift her body up so she could wiggle the rest of the way onto the ledge.

When she was finally safe, Lucy rolled onto her back in relief, grinning goofily to herself.

_She did it._

Lucy looked back into the trap she had climbed out of. In just a few minutes, the spot she had been tied to will be completely submerged in the water.

Suddenly, something strange happened. The lowing platform came to a stop just above the water and Lucy could hear the hum of the machinery click off. The death trap, for some reason, had turned off.

Lucy frowned in confusion. That didn't make any sense. Why would it turn off suddenly like that? Lucy shrugged to herself as she stood up and dusted herself off. She didn't have time to think about that. There was still the mission to complete.

With her back to the wall, Lucy looked around the corner to see if anyone was there. The hallway was as deserted as the first time they had come down it. Gru had said that there were hidden cameras everywhere, so Lucy knew she needed to hurry up and complete the mission before she was caught again. Good thing Nemesis was probably distracted right now, and even if he wasn't, he probably assumed she was still trapped and wouldn't look for her.

Lucy's heart was racing with excitement. She wasn't nervous this time. Now she had a plan and knew exactly what she had to do.

Lucy continued down the hallway her and Gru had come up. Eventually she found the room with the supercomputer she had seen earlier.

The screen was huge, but not nearly as big as the computer underneath. If she had been a computer person she figured she would probably be far more impressed.

Lucy undid her right earing and sat on the floor staring in confusion at the computer parts. Her purse had what she needed to hack into an enemy's computer to search their files, but Nemesis had that. However, her earing doubled as a thumb drive that automatically copied the most recent files on a computer whether or not the computer had the best security in the world. It was a gamble, because Lucy couldn't quite see what she would be downloading, but there was a good chance she would get what she needed.

Lucy finally found what looked like a USB port and plugged her weirdly shaped driver in.

Sometimes the best part about being a spy was all the cool gadgets she got to use.

* * *

Gru knew he was in a bad situation.

He knew he couldn't still be there when Perkins called, but it didn't look like Nemesis was going to give up any information until he got his bosses approval, which Gru had to admit was pretty smart.

Gru had used the remote in his pocket to stop the platform Lucy had been on. He had seen the button Nemesis had used to start the trap, and he was pretty confident he managed to stop it, but Lucy was probably still trapped. Gru had to get the information he needed from Nemesis, steal back Lucy's purse, and then go get Lucy and get out of there as fast as they could all before Perkins was informed about what was going on.

Gru was thinking of just calling this mission a failure and getting out while they still could, but he wanted to try convincing Nemesis to give them the information they needed one last time.

"Look, Nemesis, I have waited long enough." Gru said impatiently, interrupting whatever Nemesis had been rambling about. "Eet doesn't look like Perkins ees going to be calleeng anytime soon and I am a busy man. Eef yoo are nawt goeeng to trust me enough to start telleeng me the plan, den maybe I don't want to be a part of dis."

Nemesis raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Gru, you were a part of the AVL, and I've never met you before. Do you really think that I would just jeopardize the whole plan just to make you feel welcome?"

"Eet ees nawt about my feeleengs or my pride, eets about how much time I have to waste on a second rate veellain!"

"Second rate!" Nemesis yelled. "How could_ I_ possibly be second rate?"

"Weell, apparently yoo have to wait for the beeg boss man to approve your every move. I thought yoo were a veellain? I thought yoo made up your own rules and deed what was een your best eenterest? And yoo thought I was the dog on a leash!"

"How dare you!" Nemesis hissed. "I don't take orders from anyone! I-" But then Nemesis cut himself off, his expression going blank. "Oh, Mr. Gru," he said slowly, a smirk growing on his face. "You are very good. You understand how a villains mind works too, don't you?" he almost purred with delight.

"What do yoo mean?"

"Pride goeth before the fall, am I right?" Nemesis asked. "A villain's ultimate weakness is his pride, and you want to use that against me. Why are you so eager to know the plan?" Nemesis asked, his eyes squinting with suspicion. "What are you up to, Mr. Gru?"

"Up to? I am nawt up to anything," Gru denied, trying to sound angry to keep his villainous exterior intact.

"No…" Nemesis said slowly. "I think you are-"

"What's up with all this shouting?" A feminine voice asked from above them, causing their heads to snap upwards. "Can't I leave you boys alone for five minutes without you two fighting?"

Gru's jaw dropped open when he saw Lucy standing on the railing above them looking quite pleased with herself.

"What?" Nemesis shouted. "How did you escape?"

"What can I say? I'm just that good." Lucy responded with a grin.

Although Gru was happy to see that Lucy was unhurt, he couldn't understand why Lucy would have come to find them instead of escaping. She couldn't have been looking for him, because Lucy thought that he had betrayed her. Then, Gru's eyes fell on Lucy's purse, which was still clutched in Nemesis's hands. Of course! Lucy couldn't leave without that.

"Oh and Gru," Lucy said suddenly, leaning over the railing.

Gru flinched, expecting her to yell.

"On my purse, if you twist the clasp to the right it may or may not turn into a grappling gun," Lucy informed him nonchalantly.

Gru's stunned expression slowly melted into a devious grin.

Gru glanced at the purse out of the corner of his eye, and before Nemesis could shout in surprise, Gru snatched it out of his hand and twisted the clasp. He aimed the gun for the railing Lucy was on, and the next second he was flying towards her. When he reached her, Lucy grinned at him. Gru couldn't help but stare at her in confusion.

"Gru? Agent? What is going on? What are you doing?" Nemesis yelled, asking the same question that was on Gru's mind. "He betrayed you! I saw you, Wilde… that look on your face… that wasn't an act! He betrayed you, so why are you helping him?"

"Because," Lucy said simply as she turned to face Gru, green eyes on his blue. "We're partners, and he asked me to trust him."

For a moment, Gru couldn't breathe. He just continued to stare at her without comprehension.

_How? How could she be here? How could she trust him so completely when he gave her every reason not to? _

"No!" Nemesis yelled in frustration. "No, that doesn't make any sense! You two won't escape!"

"Should we run, partner?" Lucy suggested.

Gru broke out of his stunned silence and glanced at Nemesis who had opened a panel in the wall and was pressing buttons frantically.

"Uhh, yeah…" Gru nodded. "Let's."

They took off running side-by-side. Gru was still holding Lucy's purse tightly against himself.

"I-I don't understand," Gru said, shaking his head in confusion as they ran. "How deed yoo-"

"Escape?" Lucy asked.

"No, weell, yes I would like to know how yoo escaped, but how deed you know I deedn't-"

"Oh, betray me? I thought I already explained."

"Yoo explained but-" Gru cut himself off. "Oh, take a right up here." They turned down a hallway to their right. "Yoo explained but I deedn't understand."

Lucy gave him a confused look. "There is not much to understand. I trusted you like you asked me to. I just figured that this was your plan to get Nemesis to trust you."

"Yes, but eet could have easily been yoo who I had been trickeeng all along," Gru reasoned. "I deed used to be a veellain aftor all." The hallway they were in led up to some stairs, so they had no choice but to climb.

Lucy shrugged. "That's why the whole trust thing is important. I'm still pretty pissed at you by the way," she said in annoyance, bumping his shoulder lightly with her own. "You should have told me what your real plan was. I would have played along, you know!"

"I know, but eet had to look authentic. Nemesis ees smart. He would have known eef yoo hadn't been completely surprised."

"You're right," Lucy admitted reluctantly. "I just wish I could have been more involved in what was really going on… darn it, it's a dead end." Lucy commented as they reached an empty room and had to turn back down another hallway.

"I'm sorry," Gru said suddenly after a minute of running in silence. "I think yoo were right about what yoo said before. To be partners I have to be willeeng to tell yoo things. During dis mission I realized I don't like keeping things from yoo, Lucy."

Lucy's mouth stretched into a wide grin and he could tell she wanted to hug him, but since they were both running for their lives that wasn't possible. Instead, she grabbed his hand in her own.

"How deed you escape that trap anyway?" Gru asked. "I joost stopped the platform, but yoo would have had to untie all those ropes."

"Oh, you stopped the lift!" Lucy exclaimed. "I was wondering about that."

"I used the remote dat Nemesis used to start the trap. He deedn't question me when I picked it up for him." Gru paused. "Wait, yoo deedn't know who stopped the lift but yoo could figure out dat I wasn't really betraying yoo? Who else would eet be? Eef anything I would have thought dat would have tipped yoo off!"

"Quiet you, it was a very stressful few minutes," Lucy defended, pretending to be annoyed. "I escaped before the lift stopped, but when I looked back-" Lucy paused. "I vote we go left down this hallway." Lucy pointed with her free hand and Gru agreed. "When I looked back it wasn't moving anymore."

"Yoo escaped before that?" Gru asked, impressed. "I guess dere was no need to be worried about yoo den."

"Told you." She squeezed his hand affectionately.

"There you two are!" Nemesis's voice boomed over the speakers above their head. "I found your heat signatures. Don't think you two are going to escape. This is my lair! I can do anything!"

Suddenly the door in front of them at the end of the long hallway began to close. They turned around sharply, but found that the door behind them was also closing. They wouldn't make it to either of them in time.

"Umm," Lucy hesitated. "Now what do we do?"

Gru stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out Nemesis's remote.

"Do you think that will work?" Lucy asked.

Gru shrugged. "Worth a try."

Gru pushed a couple of buttons but nothing happened. He pushed a few more, but still nothing.

"How about this one labeled 'doors'?" Lucy suggested, pointing to the button.

Gru pointed the remote at the door in front of them and pushed the button. Immediately it opened.

"Nailed it!" Lucy called in her sing-song voice. "Come on, Gru," Lucy said, pulling him along.

"Yeah, I was goeeng to try dat one next." Gru assured her.

Lucy just giggled. "Come on, I think the elevator is over here!"

When they reached the elevator they climbed inside together. However, when they pushed the button for the elevator to go to the ground level, it didn't move.

"How did you get this far?" Nemesis's astonished voice came over the loud speaker. "Well, I'm not letting you and your little spy friend escape, Mr. Gru. I don't know what you think your trying to accomplish or why you would want to risk your life for the AVL , but all of that ends now." The elevator started to descend instead of going up like Gru and Lucy needed it to. They didn't know where Nemesis was taking them, but they knew it wasn't anywhere good.

"It's a pity, Mr. Gru," Nemesis continued. "You were great as a villain. When I heard about your exploits I felt like I understood your motivation, but now you're just-"

"Now I'm sometheeng yoo don't understand," Gru interrupted. He was positive that Nemesis could hear him. "But yoo… your joost a veellain and I understand dat completely. Yoo make classic veellain mistakes like underestimateeng the good guy..." Gru looked at Lucy, and she smiled at him. "And leetting your pride geet een the way. But your beeggest fault of all ees your ego. You thought yoo knew what was goeeng on. Yoo thought yoo knew what I was thinkeeng when I picked up this remote for yoo. Yoo nevor, for one second, considered dat yoo could be wrong."

"Wait, no! My remote! You still have that?" Nemesis panicked.

"Say hi to Perkins for me." Gru pushed the up arrow on the remote that said elevator, and the lift came to a jerking stop, causing him and Lucy to grab hold of each other for support. Then, the elevator quickly started to ascend to the surface.

Gru called Doctor Nefario and told him to bring the ship around to the outside of the factory.

When they exited the elevator they were still holding hands. However, they weren't expecting the suddenly activated turrets on the ceiling of the factory. Gru had no time to try and turn them off with the remote, so he and Lucy just ran as fast as they could. Outside the factory, the turrets were still firing at them, but Nefario and the ship were already waiting.

Gru made sure Lucy was in front of him and that she got into the ship first.

"Go, go!" Gru shouted to Nefario. The Doctor began to take off just as Gru jumped into the ship. Gru closed the door just as gunfire barraged the side of the ship.

He and Lucy collapsed into the floor of the ship, breathing heavily, their head still ringing with the sound of gunfire.

All was silent for a few moments. Not even Nefario said anything as he concentrated on navigating the ship away from Nemesis's lair.

Then, Lucy started it.

It came out as a little chuckle from her at first, and Gru turned his head to the left to look at her lying on the floor beside him. When Lucy caught his eye she started to giggle, which made him smiled. Then she started laughing, and the sound was contagious. It wasn't long before both spies were doubled up with laughter, clutching their sides as relief washed over them.

"Remember… remember how you were all scary and like…" Lucy said between laughter, "You were like, 'Well Agent Wilde, dis 'as been fun'," Lucy recounted with a deep voice and her attempt at his accent. "Yoo underestimated me! I am de greateest veellains on de earth!"

Gru propped himself up on his arm to get a better look at her. "Okay, I deed nawt say dat. And I wasn't as nearly bad as your lines! How many spy movies do you watch? Seriously, 'yoo won't geet away with dis'? Do spies actually say that?"

Lucy straightened up. "Hey, it was appropriate at the time! And what about you, huh? You suddenly seem much taller when you're being intimidating. How does that even work?"

Gru grinned evilly. "Oh sorry, dat ees a secret."

"Don't worry Meester Gru, we 'ave ways of makeeng yoo talk," Lucy said mysteriously, doing an over exaggeration of his accent.

"Okay, I know I don't sound like dat!"

"You totally do!" Lucy insisted, breaking out into a wave of giggles. Gru couldn't help it, he laughed along with her. This mission had been way too weird.

"Umm, are you two okay?" Nefario asked, looking over his shoulder at them in concern.

Gru seemed to sober at his friends question. "Yes, yes, we are fine." Gru got to his feet and helped a still snickering Lucy to stand.

"Did you get the information?" Nefario asked.

Gru frowned. "No, Nemesis wouldn't tell me anytheeng unteel he got Perkin's approval. We had to get out of dere before Perkins found out what we were up to."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, lad. Maybe there is another way you can get the information?" Nefario suggested.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy interrupted loudly, no longer laughing. She took off one of her earings. "I don't think I properly understood the plan I was never told about. I didn't realize I was just supposed to be the damsel in distress."

Gru raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do yoo mean?"

"If I had known that then I wouldn't have used this USB to download all recent files from Nemesis's computer while he was busy with you," Lucy said innocently, a sly smile on her lips.

"Yoo… yoo deedn't…" Gru asked in astonishment.

Lucy shrugged. "Well, what else was I going to do? Wait until you got back?"

"Yoo deed eet?" Gru asked again.

Lucy nodded, a large grin spreading across her ace.

"Yoo deed eet!" Gru shouted. This mission wasn't a complete failure after all! In his excitement, Gru lifted his partner up and spun her around.

Lucy laughed, and when Gru set her down, she threw her arms around him in a big hug.

They held each other tightly for a while, laughing into each other's shoulders, but when they broke apart, Gru was no longer smiling. He was thinking hard about everything that had happened during the mission.

"Lucy," Gru began, "Dat won't happen again, okay? From now on I weell tell yoo the plan."

Lucky looked taken aback. "Gru, it's okay. I was pretty mad at you at first, but I know why you did it. It was the only way. And besides," Lucy added with a proud smirk. "I didn't believe it for a second."

Gru hesitated. "Yoo deed," he said quietly so Nefario couldn't hear and they could keep the conversation between them. "Joost for a second, yoo believed me."

Lucy shook her head. "No, I-"

"Lucy," Gru interrupted gently. "Nemesis was right. You deed believe me for a second, or he would have nevor believed your reaction."

Lucy cast her eyes to the ground. "O-okay, for just a second maybe…" she admitted in shame.

Gru lifted her chin up. "Dat's okay. For a second, I thought yoo were goeeng to leave without me. Yoo had every right to do eet aftor what I deed."

Lucy shook her head with a smile. "No way, we're partners," Lucy assured him, and then added as an afterthought: "And I really needed my purse back."

Gru laughed loudly, and Lucy giggled.

"Just promise me one thing, Gru." Lucy requested.

"What ees dat?"

Lucy's face suddenly became grave. "Don't ever," she began in the most serious tone Gru had ever heard from her, "get a shark."

"What?" Gru's face twisted in confusion. "Why would I geet a shark?"

Lucy threw her hands up. "I don't know, just seriously don't do it, okay?"

"…Okay?" Gru agreed in confusion.

And then Lucy was smiling at him again. He didn't have to ask why she looked so happy, because he felt it too. They had accomplished something together. They had once again done something that mattered, and they had finished the mission with more admiration for each other than they had ever thought possible.

Unbeknownst to the strange couple, in that moment they had been both thinking the same thing about their most recent adventure:

_So… did this count as a date?_

* * *

**Please review! It means so much to hear from all of you!**

**Next chapter will focus on Lucy and the girls, which I know a lot of you want to see. **


	6. Crazy Isn't Always Bad

**I'm so sorry this chapter took so long guys! I basically took a break for a few days from writing so I wouldn't get burned out, but then this chapter was much harder to complete than I thought it would be and it ended up taking forever. Hopefully no other chapters take quite this long.**

**A big thanks to my beta who not only corrected this chapter, but also found the perfect chapter title for it.**

**Also, it occurs to me that many of you might not know where the title of this fic comes from. If you listen to the full Despicable Me theme song on youtube, it should become obvious. It is my absolute favorite line of that song.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Crazy Isn't Always Bad**

* * *

Lucy hummed to herself as she closed her locker door. She had just finished working out at the AVL gym where she was a member for free because of her job. The AVL gym was not a normal gym. There were obstacle courses, traps, a shooting range, and basically any other adrenalin filled activity that spies were expected to be able to face without breaking a sweat.

"Hey, Lucy!" A voice behind Lucy called. The secret agent turned around to face her colleague and friend Melissa. Melissa was about five years younger than Lucy, but she had been working with the AVL much longer than Lucy had been. In fact, Lucy's friendship with Melissa was one of the reasons why Lucy joined the AVL in the first place. Melissa also had a hand in getting Lucy the job by putting some encouraging words into her boss's ear about Lucy and her extensive martial arts training.

"Hey Melissa." Lucy greeted enthusiastically. Melissa was a short girl with long black hair which was tied back in a braid. She had tan skin, dark eyes, and a serious set to her mouth. She was much more muscular than Lucy, and her low center of gravity made her a strong fighter.

"I haven't seen you in forever, girl!" Melissa broke out into a smile. "Last I talked to you I think you were on your way to Australia!"

Lucy chuckled. "Yeah, well those plans got blown out of the water… or almost blown up in a volcano." Lucy shrugged. "Either one."

Melissa raised an eyebrow at her. "About that… those files on your latest mission are on a need-to-know basis, but I heard some rumors about EL Macho?"

A secretive smile formed on Lucy lips. As spies, they really weren't allowed to talk about the details of their missions to each other, but rumors spread easily, and usually the top-level security agents got the gist of what their coworkers were involved in.

"Well, let's just say that we don't have to worry about El Macho coming back," Lucy assured her.

Melissa appraised her skeptically as if she were trying to fill in the pieces of what Lucy wasn't telling her on her own.

"Mhm," Melissa hummed. "I also heard you were working with the villain they recruited. I feel sorry for you, girl."

Lucy laughed and shook her head. "Ex villain and no! He was great! I mean, he stole the _moon_." Lucy's voice was just above a whisper, a look of admiration on her face. "So I wanted to work with him. I've been following his career for years, and I've always thought he was _brilliant._ And working with him is… I mean, _he_ is…" She couldn't find the words to express just how much she loved working with him, and just being with him in general. Lucy noticed Melissa was giving her a funny look that she couldn't quite read, and then her friend's eyes grew wide.

"Oh. My. God." Melissa's mouth was hanging open, her eyes reflecting her horror. "Don't tell me you actually have a thing for him?"

Lucy blushed. "Well, we're pretty much dating so, yeah, I would say I have a thing for him."

Melissa's face switched from horror to anger so quick Lucy barely had time to process the change. "Why would you do that?" Melissa cried angrily, grabbing Lucy's forearms in a tight grip. "I know you're getting desperate-"

"I'm not desperate-" Lucy tried to interject, but Melissa didn't seem to hear her.

"Since none of the other guys you've gone on dates with haven't worked out," Melissa continued. "But a villain? Gru? Yes, I know who the villain was we recruited was. Don't ask me how I know, I can't say." Melissa had said that last sentence very quickly, obviously more interested in getting back to the topic at hand. "We work for the AVL, Lucy. The Anti-Villain League? There are rules about hooking up with a villain!"

At this point Lucy was glad they were alone in the locker room, because Melissa was practically shouting.

"But Gru's not a villain anymore, and he's a consultant for the AVL. He's practically a colleague!" Lucy hurriedly tried to explain.

"There are rules about dating colleagues too!" Melissa insisted, the frown she was wearing only growing deeper.

"Ah!" Lucy held up a finger. "But there aren't rules about dating former villains who are now consulting for the AVL, are there?"

Melissa looked ready to tear out her hair. "There should be!" She snapped. And then the slightly younger girl took a deep breath. "Look, Lucy, I'm just worried about you…"

"And even if they are against Gru and I dating, what are they going to do?" Lucy continued. "They can't fire him, they need him. If they fired me, then who would work with Gru? No one else would be willing to do it."

"And that's exactly why I'm worried about you!" Melissa pushed. "Most agents in the Anti-Villain League are here to, I don't know, actually stop villains! You know how much damage villains have caused, how terrible they are… and then you turn around and date one? Are you crazy?!"

For the first time since this conversation began, Lucy finally stopped and looked at her friend. Melissa was actually worried about her, wasn't she?

"You think I've gone crazy?" Lucy repeated.

Melissa finally released her grip on Lucy's arm. "Sweetie… you're dating a very dangerous man; ex villain or current villain, it doesn't matter. It takes a certain type of person to become a villain… A person with a lot of hate and resentment in their heart, and that doesn't just go away."

Lucy pursed her lips, knowing Melissa was right. As AVL members, they knew the typical profile of a villain, but when she pictured Gru the words hate and resentment just didn't fit. He could be grumpy, yes; he demonstrated that he could be cold and downright scary when he wanted to be, but hateful? Resentful? Lucy could still feel his warm, strong arms around her when he picked her up and swung her around after the mission. She could see the way he beamed when all three of his children knocked him over with a loving hug.

Gru was the most loving person she knew when it came to those three girls, and when it came to her… she could feel warmth flooding her cheeks. He was so gentle and sometimes a little shy, like he was scared of messing up. But then Lucy remembered what Margo said, about how he hadn't always been so loving…

"Maybe he was like that before, but-"

"Lucy!" Melissa interrupted sternly. "He's dangerous, and he's going to hurt you. You're such a sweet girl looking for love, and he's going to break your heart at the very least. And from what I've heard about him, he's not your type at all. I mean, you're so fun and full of energy! You deserve someone who you can see yourself spending the rest of your life with!"

Lucy couldn't help it. Melissa's words had her imagining something she never allowed herself to think of before. They had just started dating, after all, and Lucy had been through many bad relationships that ended in failure. She had just been hoping this relationship would last for as long as possible. Lucy was a cheerful, quirky girl that seemed to draw people towards her, but as fast as she seemed to attract friends, she seemed to lose them just as quickly. People, who once found her personality fun, soon would find her annoying, weird, and a bit too in-your-face. Without knowing it, Lucy had already been preparing herself for the day Gru grew tired of her too. After all, Melissa was right; they were both very different people.

However, Melissa's question allowed her to dream. _What if?_ What if they stayed together? What if they ended up spending the rest of their lives together? The question sent a tingling sensation down her neck and spine; it was both pleasant and terrifying. As the years ticked by without a steady relationship, Lucy had found it harder and harder to imagine herself as someone's wife, not to mention a mother of three…

The tingling sensation grew stronger, but this time it was warm and it engulfed her entire body.

Those girls… they were the sweetest girls she had ever known, and she loved spending time with them. She would dare say she loved them already, even though she had only known them for a short time. She had no idea how she would do as a mother, or if she was ever meant to be one at all, but maybe one day for those girls- those three beautiful girls who seemed like they had been through so much and still had a reason to smile- she could do it.

As for staying with Gru, waking up next to him every morning, spending the day together down in his lab as they wait for a new mission, picking the girls up from school and then helping Gru with dinner, that sounded like an extraordinary life to Lucy. Extraordinary because of who she would be sharing it with.

Mrs. Lucy Gru. The thought made her smile so wide her cheek bones hurt.

Lucy shrugged as she tried to contain her smile the best she could. "It's still too early to say, but maybe I could see us…"

Melissa clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "You really like him, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Lucy agreed, a little more dreamily than she intended.

Melissa shook her head. "If this is some weird phase I'm snapping you out of it at the first sign of trouble!" Lucy's friend was pointing a strict finger into her face, but then the shorter girl seemed to sigh in defeat. "But I guess we have all been there. Sometimes we all have to date people who are bad for us."

Lucy frowned at that, but she didn't have a chance to interrupt.

"But seriously, why couldn't you have gone for a younger guy? Look at you! You could totally pass as somewhere in your early thirties! If you're going to be dating someone you shouldn't be, you should go for a younger guy. Gru is way too old for you."

"He's only ten years older than me! That's not that big of a difference."

Melissa snorted. "Yes it is."

"What about that new guy you're with?" Lucy countered, starting to get angry. "He's twenty-five; that's ten years younger than you!"

"Exactly! He's younger than me! Because I knew I could do better than all the weird single old guys. Besides, my guy is totally sweet, _and_ he's a civilian, which is who we are supposed to be dating. Not co-workers and definitely not villains!"

Lucy just crossed her arms. "I thought that you would be happy for me."

"Sweetie," Melissa said gently. "I'm happy you're getting back out there, but you can do better. You know that, right?"

Lucy pursed her lips, but didn't answer. She knew she couldn't give Melissa the answer she wanted to hear. Melissa didn't understand. She didn't want to be dating anyone else. She liked Gru, more than she liked anyone else she had dated before.

So instead, Lucy gave her friend a lopsided smile and changed the subject quickly. "Welp! I should get going! I promised Gru's girls that I would go with them to their dance class. I haven't seen them dance before but they talk about it all the time!"

Melissa looked like her world had stopped spinning. "W-wait a minute. Girls? Gru's girls? He has kids?"

Lucy nodded absentmindedly as she searched her purse for her car key. "Yep! They are honestly the sweetest girls you have ever seen."

"That's so weird…" Melissa mumbled, mostly to herself. "So, wait." she said as she made a face. "You're dating a guy with kids? Why would you do that to yourself?"

Lucy considered her friend for a moment before grinning somewhat manically. "I guess from your perspective I have gone crazy, huh?" Lucy adjusts the strap of her purse over her left shoulder and then gave Melissa a little wave. "I'll see you later, Melissa! Bye!"

* * *

When Lucy arrived at Gru's house, she was greeted by a strange sight. Gru and his girls were out on the lawn staring up at their house. The girls were in their dance outfits, and there were multiple minions scurrying around them, each minion with what looked like a gas masks on their face.

Lucy's chest clutched with worry. It looked like the girls and Gru were fine, but she could tell something had gone wrong, and in Gru's house, a mistake in the lab could be fatal.

Lucy parked her car and approached the family. Gru was on his cell phone, and from the way he was raising his voice, it sounded like he was talking to Doctor Nefario.

Agnes spotted Lucy first and ran to attach herself to the spy's leg.

"Lucy!" The little girl cried happily.

At Agnes's cry, Gru turned around in surprise.

"Hi Agnes," Lucy greeted, bending down to give the tiny girl a hug. She looked up to see Gru watching her. His mind looked a million miles away. "What's going on?" Lucy addressed the question to the girl's father.

Gru sighed. "Dere was a gas leak een the lab. The gas ees poisonous eef you're exposed to eet for too long, but we managed to catch eet before eet traveled eento the house. We are tryeeng to find the source now."

"What about your munchkins?" Lucy asked with concern. She was glad the girls and Gru were safe, but there were thousands of those little guys down there, plus Doctor Nefario.

Gru waved off her concern. "The meenions all have gas masks, and so does Doctor Nefario. Dey weell be fine. Once dey find the source we can start clearing the lab. I normally would be een dere helpeeng dem but…"

Gru's 'but' drifted off and Lucy knew why. He had to take care of his girls first, and he couldn't exactly leave them outside while he tried to fix the problem for who-knows-how-long.

"We were about to go to dance class," Margo explained, coming up behind Lucy, "but then the alarms went off and we had to evacuate."

Lucy had noticed previously that the girls had their dance clothes on, but only now did she realize that they had their dance bags as well.

"I'm sorry about dat, gurls," Gru apologized, drawing Edith's attention as well. "We have to skeep the dance class today. I don't have time to take yoo weeth all dis going on. I think I might have to find us a hotel tonight too. Dis weell take all night to clean up." Gru sounded utterly defeated.

"That's okay," Margo assured him. "We were just going to go over the routine again in class, and we already know it by heart." Lucy had the feeling the Margo was just trying to make Gru feel better about the situation, and apparently Gru knew it too, because he smiled gratefully down at her.

"Well… why don't I take the girls to dance class?" Lucy volunteered.

Gru looked up at her in surprise.

"Yeah!" Lucy continued, "I could take them, and they could stay at my place tonight. I have an extra bedroom, and they need a place to say until this place is livable again, right? It could be like a sleepover!" Lucy was growing excited with her own idea.

Apparently, Lucy was speaking loud enough that not just Margo and Gru heard her.

"Yay! A sleepover!" Agnes cheered.

Edith's eyes were sparkling next to her sister's big brown ones. "I've never been to one of those before." Edith admitted with excitement.

Gru, however, looked hesitant. "Dat ees very nice of yoo Lucy but the gurls can be a handful. I wouldn't want yoo to go out of your way."

Lucy knew Gru was just being overprotective. Gru's inexperience and hesitation with this situation told her that Gru had never let the girls sleep over at someone else's house before. However, this was the best option and Gru knew it too.

Besides, she really wanted to spend some time with the girls.

"Come on Gru, it's no trouble. And the girls seem excited about it."

Once look down at his three girl's hopeful eyes and Lucy knew that was all the convincing Gru needed.

"Weell, eef you're sure about dis Lucy…"

"Totally!" Lucy jumped up in excitement. "Yes!" She pumped her arm in the air.

Gru raised an eyebrow at her, but she just grinned back, too happy to feel embarrassed, especially in front of Gru. He seemed to take her to eccentricities much better than most people did. Although, it could be because he had some eccentricities of his own, albeit very different ones.

"Yes! A sleepover!" Edith cried, and Lucy and Margo grinned at each other.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

Gru, with his gas masks in place, had gone back into the house to pack bags for the girls with everything they would need to spend the night at Lucy's. Lucy's car was small, but the three girls managed to squish into the one seat. Margo directed Lucy to the dance studio with ease, and they got there with plenty of time to spare.

The girls were already dressed for class, and so Lucy didn't have to do much. She saw a bunch of moms sitting on benches and talking on their cell phones or reading magazines, and Lucy had a feeling she should join them.

Lucy was surprised about how easy the girls were to take care of. There were three of them with three wildly different personalities and needs, and yet, they seemed to function as a unit independent of any adult help. Even if Lucy hadn't driven them, she was sure the girls could have gotten themselves to dance class on their own if had they had enough time.

Lucy felt a bit nervous. She was worried that she had missed something. She wasn't like Gru, she wasn't a parent, and even though the three girls were the most independent children she had ever seen, she still wanted to be able to help them if they needed it.

Then, Lucy realized what she had been missing. Edith was still in her white boots while her sisters were both in their dance shoes. Lucy looked in the girl's duffel bag and pulled out a pair of pink shoes that most likely belonged to Edith.

"Edith, hold on, you forgot to put these on!" Lucy called to the girl just seconds before she was about to run over and join her sisters on the dance floor.

When Lucy made a motion to hand over the dance shoes to the middle sister, Edith scowled and crossed her arms.

"I like wearing my boots," Edith mumbled defiantly, and then pulled her hat lower over her eyes. "And I _always_ wear my hat."

Lucy blinked. She never even mentioned anything about Edith's hat, but for some reason Edith expected her too. Edith seemed extremely defensive about it. This wasn't the first time that Lucy had seen Edith get defensive over small things, but somehow it made sense. Out of all the girls, Lucy understood Edith the best. Lucy had also gotten into a lot of trouble when she was little, and it got to the point where she became sick and tired of her mother or her teachers ragging on her for the same things; sometimes it was about the things she said, or the things she did, or even things she wanted to do, like martial arts, which nobody approved of. If nobody approves of the choices you make every little thing you do feels like a battle, and Lucy had a feeling reckless, energetic Edith probably felt like that almost all the time.

Lucy smiled, knowing exactly what she would have wanted to hear as a child. "Good choice," Lucy agreed. "I don't think I would be able to recognize you without your hat anyway." She winked at the girl, and Edith looked absolutely dumfounded.

"And I guess it's better to dance in shoes you're comfortable in, huh?" Lucy continued when Edith didn't say anything. "Just like I love doing martial arts in these." Lucy lifted up her foot to show the little girl the high-heeled shoes she wore every day. "Even if everyone thinks I'm crazy."

Edith's nodded. "Exactly! Everyone always yells at me but they don't _get _it!" Edith pulled her hat back so that Lucy could see her dancing eyes.

"Edith, come on!" Margo called from the dance floor where they were doing stretches.

Lucy shrugged. "Just because you do something different than everyone else doesn't make it wrong," Lucy told her. "And if people think you're a little crazy, that's not necessarily bad either." That was something Lucy had a hard time learning herself, especially because people usually looked at her like she was some kind of strange alien when she was just trying to be herself.

Once she learned this lesson, Lucy started feeling much better about herself. Lucy suspected this was why she was the only agent comfortable with asking a villain to help the AVL. To Lucy, different didn't always equate to bad.

Edith ran off to join her sisters and Lucy sat with the dance moms. Some of them were really young and in their twenties, but most of them were just a little younger than her.

Lucy waved as she sat down next to them. "Hi!" she greeted.

"Hello dear." said the pudgy blonde-haired women beside her. "I haven't seen you before. Which one is yours?"

"Oh, umm, none of them are mine actually, but I came with those three." Lucy pointed to the girls.

"Oh! Are you a friend of the family or something?" The lady prodded with a little more eagerness than polite interest would dictate.

Lucy smiled. A friend of the family? You could definitely say that, but Lucy hoped she was a little bit more…

"Umm, yeah, something like that."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy could see the women appraising her critically. Slowly, a smile began to spread across the lady's face.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." The lady patted Lucy's leg. "That father of theirs comes to every single one of their dance classes, and being a single father can't be easy. It's nice to know he has someone else who can help him out."

Lucy blushed and shrugged. "Well, that's what partners are for."

The lady next to her eyes suddenly grew very large and she looked absolutely delighted.

It took a moment for Lucy to realize what she had said. When Lucy had called them partners she had meant it in the two-colleagues-that-work-together kind of way. That was not, however, the way the lady understood her wording. It wasn't as though Lucy could fault her for it, though. After all, the lady wasn't wrong. Their relationship had long since moved on from being a purely professional one.

"Well, I must say, you two make the cutest couple!"

Lucy smiled down at the women. That was a nice change of opinion, especially compared to the lecture Mellissa gave her earlier this afternoon.

"Umm, thank you," Lucy responded awkwardly.

"Hey Kim!" A hushed voice said from behind Lucy as another woman sat down beside her. "Zoey and me were practicing our pirouettes so Zoey could be just perfect for the recital!" Even though this new woman was talking in a whisper, her voice still seemed to carry across the dance room. She was short, and had very lean muscles. Lucy suspected that she had once been a dancer herself. She had straight brown hair that didn't fall past her chin.

"That's nice, Chloe," the women Lucy had been talking to, who apparently was named Kim, responded in a tired voice.

Chloe seemed to notice Lucy for the first time. "Oh, hi!" Chloe greeted emphatically. "I'm Chloe!"

"Lucy," the spy introduced with a smile, shaking the manicured hand that Chloe held out.

"Well, Lucy, I must tell you what I tell all the moms here. I used to be a dancer, and I give my daughter private lessons, so you shouldn't feel bad if your daughter isn't quite on the same level that mine is. I'm sure she will get better. Of course, my daughter is going to be a famous dancer one day, but not every girl can make it that far, you know?"

Lucy was starting to like this mom less and less. Instead of correcting Chloe about how she wasn't a mother, Lucy decided to ask a question instead. "So, which of these girls is your daughter?"

Chloe beamed. "That one there! The one with the long brown hair. That's my Zoey."

Lucy saw Chloe's daughter immediately. She had arrived late with her mother, but Zoey had quickly found her place in the routine. She looked a lot like her mother, and Lucy had to admit she was a pretty good dancer for her age. She looked just a little bit older than Edith.

Lucy watched the girls dance for a while, and the whole seen was very cute. Margo had this look of concentration on her face the whole time; a look Agnes mimicked, but the littlest girl couldn't stop a grin from spreading across her face. Edith was always a little ahead or behind on the moves, like she was too excited and sped ahead, or she used too much momentum on the last jump and fell behind. She often looked more wobbly than her sisters because of her inaccurate timing.

"I make Zoey practice the routine everyday so she can be the best!" Chloe continued to brag.

With a frown, Lucy noticed that Zoey took up a lot of the room on the dance floor, often moving around more than the routine intended. She had bumped into Edith twice and Margo once, but her mother didn't seem to notice.

"Zoey has the routine down perfectly!" Chloe continued, and before Lucy could say anything a little scream came from Zoey's mouth as an over-enthusiastic twirl sent her spiraling into Agnes, and after tripping over her own feet, Chloe landed face first on the dance floor. Agnes looked stunned over what happened, but she was still standing and unhurt.

Lucy couldn't help herself. "Is that part of the routine?" she asked Zoey's mother as the lady let out a surprised gasp and sprang from her chair.

Kim laughed silently next to Lucy.

* * *

With the dance class over, Lucy waited until the girls changed back into their normal clothes, which were in the bag their dad packed for them.

Lucy waited for them to emerge from the changing room, but when Kim had left with her daughter and almost all the other moms had left, Lucy began to worry.

Lucy opened the changing room door a crack and what she saw and heard made her clench her teeth in anger, if only to keep herself from calling out.

"That was all your fault, Agnes!" Zoey yelled at the little girl. "You tripped me up on purpose!"

Agnes shook her head. "Nu huh, you ran into me! It was an accident!"

"Leave her alone, Zoey," Margo defended, lifting their duffle bag over her shoulder, as if she was trying to get everyone out of the room as quickly as possible. "Come on guys, Lucy is waiting for us."

"Stay out of this four-eyes, this is between me and shorty." Zoey took a few steps towards Agnes, and then pushed the little girl hard, causing the unsuspecting kid to skid across the floor and come to a painful stop against the wall.

With perfect timing and speed that she hadn't displayed on the dance floor, Edith lunged for Chloe and knocked the girl on her back. Edith fell on top of her with clutched fists and an angry growl.

"That's my sister," Edith snarled as she continued to pin the slightly older girl to the floor.

Through the blood that was dripping out of Zoey's nose and into her mouth from where Edith rammed her, Lucy heard Zoey scoff and say, "You guys aren't even real sisters!"

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, since Eidth's face flushed red with anger, and she looked ready to punch the girl this time. Instead, Margo managed to grab the blonde around the middle and pull her off the girl.

"Edith! That's enough! You'll get in trouble!" Margo yelled, still trying to hold Edith back.

"I don't care!" Edith yelled, struggling as hard as she could against her older sister's arms.

"You should listen to your _sister_," Zoey mocked, wiping the blood from her nose. "You guys are so weird, especially you." She looked pointedly at Edith. "You're the worst of all of them. You're completely crazy!"

Lucy watched from her hiding spot as Edith's murderous expression, or at least as murderous of an expression a seven-year-old could wear, suddenly fell into a completely calm look of acceptance.

"So?" Edith asked. The word was so simple, but it held so much power. The insult designed to rile Edith up suddenly fell flat, and Zoey was stunned into silence.

Lucy never felt more proud.

* * *

**This chapter was supposed to have much more Lucy and the girls bonding, but it got too long, and so most of that is going to have to come next chapter. So be ready, because I have a lot of cute things planned.**

**You know what I love about this story? You guys won't know what is important to the plot until later when it's too late. That's the fun of being a writer ^_^**

**Please review!**


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